Far From Perfect
by ox Autumn Facade xo
Summary: Rukia's been really sick lately and Ichigo is getting concerned. Could it just be a bad case of the flu or something they would've never expected?
1. Morning Sickness

Mmkay well this is my first attempt at a Bleach fic...so I hope you like it.

Remember...read and reveiw, my friends!

---**C**h_a_p**t**er 1---

_'How the hell did I get stuck in **this **situation...' _were Ichigo's current thoughts as he pulled back Rukia's hair.

She gripped the tiolet bowl, shaking. Coughing a bit, she attempted to stand up.

"How ya feelin'?" He said, helping her up.

No response.

Ichigo pouted, but he didn't blame her, she was _really _sick. She had been like this for about a week and a half now, and he was starting to get worried.

_' The flu doesn't last this long...'_

She walked over to the sink, taking a plastic cup and filling it with water. Trembling, she took a drink from it to get rid of the sour taste in her mouth.

She tightly held on to the edges of the sink to keep herself from falling over. Ichigo stepped behind her, resting his hands on her shoulders.

"Hey, c'mon let's get you back to bed."

She took a look at herself in the mirror before nodding. Her face was pale and bags were starting to form under her exhausted eyes.

As she was taking a wobbly step out of the bathroom, Ichigo lifted her up into his arms and carried her into their bedroom.

"I-Ichi--"

"Shhh, save your strength." He interrupted.

He slowly laid her down onto the bed and tucked her under the blankets. She looked up at him with a weak smile as to say "Thank you".

He undoubtably read her expression. "No problem." He whispered, kissing her forehead. "I think I'm gonna go give Yuzu a call, 'kay? I'm gettin' worried about you..."

She nodded.

Yuzu and Karin were now 18 and basicly ran the clinic. Of course their good old Dad was still there, but the two of them seemed to be the ones in charge.

It was 1 A.M. but Yuzu worked the night shift, so Ichigo strolled over to the phone. Dialing in the number he seemed to know too well, he heard a familiar voice.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Yuzu."

"Oh! Hi, Ichigo! What are you doing up at 1 in the morning??" She asked curiously.

He rubbed the back of his neck, "Well ah...Rukia's been pretty sick for almost two weeks now, and I just wanted you to check up on her. Are you busy?"

"Nope. You can come down whenever you want, its been pretty slow around here."

"Alright, well since both of us are up we'll take a ride down there right now."

"Okay, see you then."

"Yeah. Bye."

He hung up the phone and quietly walked over to Rukia, who had already begun to doze off. Shaking her gently, she turned groggily toward him.

"I'm gonna have Yuzu take a look at you. She said she isn't busy so I figured we'd just go get it over with now. You up to it?"

"Y-yeah..that's f-fine." she said, shivering.

He carefully lifted her back into his arms, carrying her out into the night. He opened the passenger door of his car and delicately laid her onto the seat.

Quietly, he shut the door and jogged around the car to the driver's seat. He started it up then zoomed down the street for only a few minutes before arriving at his family's clinic.

Pulling the car to a stop near the entrance, he opened the door and stepped out to help Rukia up. However, she was already pulling herself out of the car. Ichigo smiled at how stubborn she could be.

"C'mon now," He said with a grin. "I thought we agreed that you'd let me take care of you."

"I'm f-fine, I c-can walk on m-my own."

He rolled his eyes, but still smiled.

"I know, I know."

He always let her win.

About to open the door for her, in the corner of his eye he saw her bolting for the trash can. He turned around to see her bending over, throwing up once again.

He fingered a hand through his bangs, sighing.

_'I hate seeing her like this...Dammit Rukia, you just always have to push yourself too far don't you?'_

She slowly turned around, even weaker than before.

"Rukia...God I hate seeing you like this..." He said walking over to her and placing his hand on her cheek.

"I'm n-not exactly enjoying it, Ichig-go."

He didn't really have a response to that, so he just decided to focus on getting her inside. Taking her hand, he lead her to the door and helped her in. Seeing them come in, Yuzu ran from her desk to the couple.

"Oh, Rukia! You poor thing!" She let out in a gasp.

Ichigo blew out a stream of air, "So uh, can you give her a check-up or something? I just wanna know what she has so we can get rid of it."

"Yeah, sure. Rukia, come with me." Yuzu lead her into a small room and everything in it seemed to be blurred from her vision.

The teenager sat Rukia down on the bed and picked up a pen and clip board.

"What have you been feeling? What symptoms?" She said softly.

"Vomiting...I've been pretty drowsy...dizziness.."

Yuzu proceeded with scribbling a few things down on the piece of paper she had attached to her clipboard.

"K...And all of this started when?"

"About t-ten days ago."

"Have you had a fever? Aching sinus?"

"No."

She once again scratched onto the paper.

"Have you been exposed to anyone with the flu?"

"No."

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Ichigo sat down in one of the black leather chairs in the waiting area, picking up a magazine. He attempted to read it, but couldn't keep his mind off of what could be wrong with Rukia.

_'What if she has pneumonia? Or something worse?'_

He just kept fidgeting in his seat until he gave up trying to read. Just as he was plunging into deep thought he could hear Rukia hollering about something.

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"I COULD BE WHAT!?"

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And that's chapter one. I hope it wasn't as boring to you as it seemed to me...

Well, read and reveiw! Please!


	2. Unexpected News

I really appreciate all the positive feed back of all your reviews!

Thank you!

Whoops, forgot the disclaimer in the first chappy.

**D**iscl_ai_mer: I don't own Bleach….

---**C**h_a_p**t**er 2---

Yuzu quietly laughed at the dumbfounded expression on Rukia's face.

"It's quite a possibility, considering your symptoms. I'll have Dad come in to make sure and run a few tests."

Rukia just sat there, both of her hands tightly wrapped around her stomach.

"I expected it to be something….big…..But not this big..." She finally blurted out.

Yuzu smiled at her, "I'm sure Ichigo is going to be delighted when you tell him." She said happily.

A few seconds later, Rukia fainted.

Yuzu caught her instantly, preventing her from falling face first on the floor.

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Ichigo scrambled up from his seat, making a mad dash for the room Rukia had been taken to.

Yuzu came to the door, closing it almost completely, leaving just a crack open so Ichigo could see her.

"Ichigo, she'll be out in a little bit. We aren't finished yet."

He looked at her, completely baffled.

"What the hell?? Why can't I come in? And what was she screaming about?"

"Believe me, Rukia is going to want to be the one to tell you what's going on."

With a snort he turned away. "Fine. How long is this gonna take?"

"At the most, another 30 minutes."

"Alright…."

Walking slowly back down the hall to his chair, he sat down, resting his head in his hands.

'_What in the hell is going on?'_

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Yuzu had laid Rukia down onto the bed and already called Isshin. He'd be there within minutes- -

"Hey, Yuzu!!" Isshin said enthusiasticly, busting into the room.

"Dad! Shhh! Don't be yelling like that, I don't want her to wake up in a panic!" She whispered as quietly as she was able, since she was just a bit annoyed with her father.

"Right…we _do _need to wake her, though."

"I know, just not like that."

He turned away, crossing his arms.

"Dad, don't be so immature…"

He whirled around, smiling again.

"Aha! So you _do _need me!!"

She whipped the clipboard at her father, "Dad, _shut **up**_!! You're going to wake her!"

Rukia blinked her eyes open, looking around, wondering where the in the hell she was. She sat up, leisurely, rubbing her eyes, and saw Yuzu and Isshin fighting.

Yuzu glanced at Rukia and saw she was awake.

"See, Dad! Look what you did!?" She said pointing at Rukia.

"Jee…you don't need to blame it all on me, you know. You were yelling too."

Yuzu placed a hand on her temple, sighing. "Nevermind….Let's just get on with this."

Isshin nodded and looked at Rukia.

"So I s'pose Yuzu already went through symptom questions, eh?"

She lifted her head, "Yes."

"Alrighty, then we'll move straight on to running the tests. I'm going to need you to come with me." He said with a welcoming smile.

She slid off of the bed and stumbled toward the door. Isshin helped her out to a different room that was much larger and seemed to be made for why she was here.

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Ichigo could no longer sit in one place. He found himself pacing back and forth in front of the entrance of the clinic.

'_Why wouldn't she let me in? Damn it, Yuzu. I have a right to know what's happening….and what the hell did she mean by "Rukia will want to be the one to tell you"? Ugh….I'm so damn confused. _

He cursed at himself, still pacing around, with one hand on his chin.

The minutes passed by him feeling like hours.

'_I need to know, **now.**' _

He heard footsteps down the hallway and turned around to see Yuzu, Isshin, and Rukia.

She looked exhausted.

"Rukia…" He said, a hand behind his head.

She smiled faintly.

Isshin stepped forward, "That's my boy, Ichigo." He said with a smirk.

"What the hell are you talkin' about, old man?"

He just smiled at his son.

"Get some sleep you two, you're going to be needing it for the next several months."

Ichigo looked more confused than ever.

"What? Why?"

He pushed Ichigo and Rukia out the door of the clinic.

"Good luck!" He said waving.

Ichigo shook his head, sighing. He saw Rukia walking to the car and ran over to her. He smiled before opening the door for her.

"Ichigo…."

"Just get in." He said, still smiling.

She slipped into the car and sat down with her hands in her lap.

Ichigo walked around the car and opened his door, sitting down and starting it up. He looked behind him as he backed up.

And again, within minutes, they were at their destination.

Yawning, he yanked the keys from the ignition and carelessly opened the car door.

He began walking to the house since he saw that Rukia had gotten out of the car by herself.

He unlocked the door after waiting for her to catch up.

Walking inside the house, he put his arm around her, tossing his keys onto the table. She snuggled against him, one of her hands gripping tightly onto her stomach.

Ichigo walked her into their bedroom and looked up at the ceiling.

"Get yourself some sleep, okay?" He said, obviously trying to hide his concern.

It wasn't working.

Rukia stared at him.

"…Yeah…" She replied, already slipping herself under the blankets.

He was _dying _to know what was wrong with her, if anything was. Well, apparently _something_ was, since she was throwing up so much. Even though he was aching to know, he figured he'd wait until morning. He didn't want to get her worked up just as she was drifting off to sleep.

Letting out a deep sigh, he climbed onto bed, and placed his hands behind his head.

Hehe poor Ichigo, left in suspense.

Next chapter, Ichigo is told exactly what's wrong with her!

Read and Review!


	3. Ichigo's Reaction

Once again, thanks for your reveiws! They make my day. )

**D**iscl_ai_mer: Nope...still don't own Bleach...

By the way, I'll most likely be updating every 1-3days, unless something comes up (or if I get writer's block). Just wanted to let you know. Enough of my rambling, here's Chapter three.

---**C**h_a_pter 3---

She slowly opened her eyes to find herself in her sunshine filled bedroom. Casting her eyes to the window, she saw the skies were a cerulean blue. She couldn't help but to smile, the day was already so gorgeous. But that was quickly interrupted when she felt the urge to vomit again. She shot up out of bed and darted toward the bathroom.

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Only a few minutes later, Ichigo awoke, sitting up stretching out his arms in a yawn. He looked over to greet Rukia, just to discover wrinkled sheets. He hopped out of bed in search of her when he heard gagging coming from the bathroom. _'Ah, shit...' _ He fastened his pace and arrived standing in front of the bathroom door. He creaked it open,

"Rukia? You in here?"

He walked in and found her cowering over the tiolet bowl. "Not again..."

She was now sitting on the floor, clutching her stomach. Ichigo looked into her scared eyes.

"..It...it hurts.." She said, wincing.

He knelt down beside her. "What hurts?"

She was taking short breaths. "I...I hope there isn't something wrong with the baby.." She blurted out, completely forgetting about the fact that he didn't know she was pregnant.

He stood up, stepping back. "Th-the _WHA?_" Widening his eyes, he stared down at her. "Your fucking pregnant!?!"

_Damn it, damn it, damn it._

"How the hell did _that_ happen!?!"

Her eyes narrowed, "I wonder..." She said sarcastically.

His hand was gripping his forehead as he tried to absorb the unexpected news. He took a deep breath, still completely overwhelmed.

"Is it...is it mine..?"

Rukia grabbed the nearest thing to her, which happened to be a full bottle of shampoo, and threw it at him. "Of course it's yours!! It's not like I go around whoring myself!"

He caught the shampoo bottle just before it hit him in the face, and peeked around it.

"You know, I'm pretty surprised you didn't figure this out on your own, considering all of the hints your father was giving you." She said, just a tad irritated.

"...Yeah...I guess..."

He walked over scratching the back of his head. He loved Rukia to death, but sometimes the two just could _not_ get along.

He put his hand out to help her up, and after looking at him for a few seconds, she took it. He had pulled her up extremely close to him, a little too close for Rukia, since she wasn't exactly feeling well. Putting his arm around her, and he said quietly,

"So...are you going to go through with it?" He had meant to say "we", not "you", but he was a bit nervous.

She was just about ready to clobber him, _'What the hell kind of question is that?' _

"Yes, Ichigo, I _am _going through with it." She said coldly.

He let out a sigh of relief, "Oh, good."

He could be so stupid sometimes...

Taking her hand in his, he walked her out into the middle of the living room. He looked straight into her eyes and had an extremely serious expression on his face.

"Rukia...This pregnancy thing really surprised the shit out of me..." He trailed off. "But, I just want you to know that I'm gonna be with you every step of the way." He said cupping her cheeks in his hands.

"Ichigo.."

He leaned down and softly pressed his lips against hers, causing her to grip onto his loose shirt. When he pulled away, she laid her head on his chest. She hadn't intended to give in to her fear, but it was really starting to overcome her.

"..Ichigo...I'm scared.." She said quietly, fighting her tears back.

He wrapped his arms around her, "And you have every right to be, your going to have a baby. Of course you're scared. But you aren't going to have to be alone for one second of it. If you need _anything_, you tell me, got it?"

She silently nodded.

Sniffling, she quietly called his name. "Ichigo..?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you..."

He smiled, hugging her closer, if that was even possible.

"No problem."

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Sorry that this chapter is sooo unbelievably short...I'm trying to decide whether I should just continue this story the way its going, or skip ahead a few months.

What do you guys think?

Read and reveiw!


	4. Moodswings

Thanks for the reviews and for those of you not reviewing, please do! I'm aiming for a total 45 reviews before I post Chapter 5.

Alamandorious: To answer your question, this has nothing to do with the series.

**D**_i_scl_ai_mer: I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**er 5---

Ichigo was bouncing around the room, measuring the walls and windows. A catalog was sitting at his feet, opened at the baby section. It was filled with baby clothes, cribs, toys, decorations, all of things of that sort.

He knelt down to pick it up and placed his hand on his chin.

"I think Rukia would like this one…" He mumbled to himself, eying one of the cribs.

It had been just about a month since he found out about the baby, and he was already preparing the extra bedroom for his/her arrival. It was safe to say he was overly excited about the whole thing.

Rukia on the other hand, had been a little on edge lately. He paid no mind to it, thinking it must be the mood swings pregnancy had to offer. And he was absolutely right.

It wasn't like she was _always_ angry; she was just a bit temperamental.

He knew he couldn't hold her responsible for that, considering he was the one who got her pregnant in the first place.

Holding his hands out, he formed his pointer fingers and thumbs into a box shape, pondering on which crib would best fit Rukia's liking. After a few minutes, he decided to give up on it for awhile; he didn't even know the gender of the baby yet, so there certainly was no rush.

He quietly walked into their bedroom and saw that Rukia was still sleeping soundly. Smiling, he sat down on the edge of the bed and brushed away the hair covering her shut eyes. He leaned down and kissed the top of her head before making his way to the door. Hearing the rustling of the bed sheets, he stopped in his tracks.

He heard a sleepy voice call his name.

"Ichigo?"

Turning around, a very drowsy Rukia caught his eye.

"Hey, sleepyhead. Did I wake you?"

She rubbed her eyes and sat up.

"I don't think so…What time is it?"

He brought his wrist up to his chest and checked his watch.

"Almost noon."

"Noon?!"

"Yeah."

"You could've woken me up..." She said, folding her arms across her chest.

"And what would the point be in that? Wake you up early, and then deal with your morning mood swings? Now I only have to endure the afternoon ones." He said, laughing to himself.

"Ichigo, I do _not _have morning mood swings!"

"Uh-huh…" He said sarcastically.

She struck him with a cold glare.

"Okay, okay, I'll drop it." He said smiling. "Loosen up a little, would ya?"

"I can't, I'm too busy with my mood swings." She said, aggravated.

"Aw, c'mon. I was just messing around with you." He replied, walking over to the bedside. "You know I love you, mood swings or not."

Her frown disappeared and she couldn't stop the smile curving itself upon her lips, which seemed to please Ichigo.

"I'm sorry…its just I'm so sick of throwing up, and I'm exhausted—"

"Hey, you don't need to explain yourself to me." He cut in, hugging her. "Don't worry about it."

She leaned on his shoulder and slowly closed her eyes. Right then and there, she knew that her future child couldn't have a better father.

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**..4 months later..**

"Hmm, yeah I think I like that one too." Rukia said, pointing to one of the cribs in the catalog.

"I like this one for a boy," He said turning the page.

"Yeah."

"Have you come up with any names yet?"

Rukia laughed quietly. "Ichigo we still have about 4 months until the baby comes."

"Yeah, I know…"

"But I do have some in mind." She said smiling at him.

"Really!? So I'm not just getting ahead of myself?"

"Well…I think you may be…just a little…"

He stood up, stretching. "I'm just so ready to be a dad!"

She crossed her legs and smiled. "I'm sure you are."

She laid a hand on her, to some extent, bulging tummy. Her stomach wasn't what you would call huge, but appearance wise, you could definitely tell she was pregnant.

"Should we get going?" She said, looking at the clock.

"Yeah, don't wanna be late."

He helped her up from the couch and walked over to the closet, grabbing their jackets. Handing Rukia her's, he slipped on his own and picked up his keys.

"Ready?"

"Yeah."

This was now a monthly routine, they stopped in at the clinic about every 4 weeks. Rukia was 5 ½ months into the pregnancy, so she was pretty use to going there by now.

As soon as they got there, Isshin was at the door.

"Hey, you two!!"

"Hi, Dad…" Ichigo said, brushing the snow off of his shoulders.

"Hello, Isshin."

"Rukia, how have you been feeling?" He questioned.

"Pretty good, actually."

"Great! Karin is in the other room if you're ready for the ultra-sound."

She nodded and Ichigo looked at his father.

'_A what?' _

(He's hopeless...)

As he stood there wondering what this alleged "ultra-sound" could be, Rukia was making her way down the hall. He scrambled after her and found himself in a room with a hospital bed and something that looked like a TV.

"Hey, Rukia." Karin said, walking into the room.

"Oh, hi Karin."

"You're here for the ultra-sound, right?"

There was that damned word again.

"Yeah."

"Alright, just lay on here, I'll be right back."

Rukia shifted herself onto the bed as Karin left the room. Ichigo inched closer to her and whispered,

"…Hey Rukia?"

"Hmm?"

"What…what's an ultra-sound?"

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Poor, hopeless, clueless, Ichigo.

R&R!


	5. Of Ultrasounds and Utter Confusion

To answer all of your questions –

Brittany-Nicole: No, Rukia and Ichigo aren't married…yet. And yes, Rukia's permanently staying in the living world.

Tuffchick: About Ichigo fighting hollows, I can't quite answer that as of now, because I haven't decided if hollows are to exist yet… Anyway, it'll get answered later in the story.

**D**iscl_ai_mer: Don't own Bleach… Glares

---**C**h_a_p**t**er 5---

Rukia's eyes grew tremendously wide, "I-Ichigo…you're kidding right?"

He fiddled his thumbs around, looking up, answering her question as an obvious "no".

"But…but you grew up in this place! Even **I **know what it is!"

"Look, I specifically tried hard _not _to pay attention to the pregnancy stuff when I lived here, okay?"

Well, she could definitely believe that.

"I didn't wanna be learnin' about stuff that personal when I was a kid. Just wasn't my place."

"I guess that makes sense…"

He coughed, "Yeah…so what is it?"

Just then, Karin walked in carrying the materials needed for her procedure. She set everything down on the counter and picked up a container filled with gel, handing it to Ichigo.

"What the hell's this?"

"Do you wanna help or not?" Karin replied.

"Well…yeah."

"Then just take it."

He grabbed it from her hand and held it at his side.

"Okay…what do I do with it?"

Karin let out a sigh. "Ichigo, do you even know what an ultra-sound is?"

"…No……"

She slapped her forehead, smearing her hand down her entire face. "Are you kidding me!?"

"Okay, I get it already! Haha Ichigo's a dumbass, he doesn't know what a fucking ultra-sound is!" He said, his face turning scarlet.

Rukia sat up.

"Ichigo, settle down…"

Realizing the scene he was making, he took in a deep breath.

"Let's just get on with this, Karin.."

"Well, first you need to put that on her stomach."

He nodded, twisting open the cap, and peeking into the container.

"Ah…how much do I use?"

"Enough to get all areas of her stomach."

"Kay."

He had never been embarrassed to touch Rukia in public, but in front of his sister was a totally different situation.

As Ichigo hesitated, Karin rolled her eyes and began walking to the door.

"I'll be back in five minutes."

Ichigo walked over to Rukia and lifted her shirt only enough to expose her stomach. Reaching a couple of fingers into the gel, he gently rubbed it on.

"So, what does this do?"

"An ultra-sound displays a live picture of the baby." She said, pointing to the monitor a couple of feet away.

"So we'll be able to see if it's a boy or a girl?"

"I'm not sure."

"I hope so." He said eagerly.

She smiled at how excited he was, when Karin came back into the room.

"Done yet?"

Ichigo turned around.

"Yeah."

She walked over to the counter, picking up the device used to show the baby. Hooking it up to the monitor, she placed it on Rukia's bare tummy. Ichigo stared in awe at the small figure as it appeared on the black and white screen.

Rukia smiled broadly as she looked from Ichigo to her baby.

"It's...so small." He finally let out.

Karin rolled her eyes.

"Well, duh. It's only been 5 months."

He ignored her remark, taking Rukia's hand in his as he continued to gaze at his child. Suddenly, he was quickly reminded of his previous question.

"Hey, Karin?"

"What?"

"Can you tell the gender of the baby yet?"

She walked up close to the screen and squinted her eyes.

"No, it's too early, I can't tell."

"Oh…" He said in disappointment.

Rukia turned to him, "Ichigo, be patient. We'll know soon enough."

"Yeah…"

"Anyway, your baby is good and healthy." Karin cut in, handing Rukia a towel to wipe off the gel.

"Thank you, Karin." Rukia said smiling.

"Yep." She said before walking out of the room.

Rukia swung her feet over the side of the bed, looking at Ichigo. He smiled at her, leaning down to kiss her on the cheek.

"Let's get home."

"Yeah." She said sliding off the bed.

As they exited the room, both of them were equally startled when Isshin jumped in front of them.

"So am I going to have a grandson or granddaughter!?" He said enthusiastically.

Ichigo rubbed his forehead, "We don't know yet, Dad."

"Hmm…well if it's a boy, I have a name suggestion."

"What's that?" Rukia said politely.

"Well, name him after me, of course!"

Ichigo sighed, "See, ya later, Dad."

"But wait! Don't leave!!"

He was now almost pushing Rukia outside so he could avoid his father's request.

"We'll be back next month." He called, getting into the car.

He could practically drive from the clinic to his house with his eyes closed now.

As soon as they got inside, Ichigo grabbed a particularly large blanket and laid it on the couch, suggesting that Rukia bundle under it while he made them hot chocolate. She agreed to the arrangement and saved a space for him when he came in with two large mugs of hot chocolate.

"Here you go, Ms. Kuchiki." He said handing her the coffee mug and settling next to her.

She snuggled against him as she looked out the window, watching the snow fall.


	6. The Wrath of pickles?

I have a feeling I won't be able to be updating as often this week, but I'll make up for it!

Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 6---

"Ichigo?"

"Yeah?" He replied, turning his head to see her sipping from her hot chocolate.

"Ehh…Do we have any pickles?"

He was a little confused by her question and made a point to show it in his expression, furrowing his eye brows together.

"Pickles? I don't think so… Why?"

"Just wondering." She replied, innocently.

He continued staring at her, wondering how that question had come up so suddenly. Then he remembered reading in one of those damned pregnancy books Yuzu had forced him to read, that usually around this time, strange food cravings would be overcoming Rukia. He sighed deeply and scratched the back of his head. The two of them sat in silence as the seconds turned to minutes.

Rukia broke the silence with,

"Are you sure?"

Ichigo quirked an eyebrow.

"Lemme go check." He said, rising from the couch.

Dragging his feet into the kitchen, he propped open the refrigerator door, peering inside in search of pickles. It was packed full of any food you could think of, at Rukia's demand. Except for pickles. Cursing under his breath, he shuffled back into the living room.

"No pickles. He said, plopping down next to her.

"Oh…"

He clenched his teeth shut to prevent himself from saying anything. He knew that if he let any words escape, they would be something along the lines of "I could go out and get some if ya want". When it came to Rukia, he just couldn't say no, nor could he stand to see her anything even close to unhappy. He saw her looking at him, no she was pouting actually. For some reason he just found that particularly irresistible and caved in.

"I could go out and get some if ya want."

Gah, there it was.

Her eyes lit up as she leaned over to give him a peck on the lips. You'd think that after being together for two years she wouldn't be able to seduce him with such ease, but she could basically get him to do anything she wanted. Fortunately for Ichigo, she wasn't one to take advantage of that.

"I'll be back in 20 minute or so." He said, waving, as he stepped out the door.

He shivered as he started the engine of his car, turning the heat on. Backing it up, he sped down the street to the grocery store. The visibility was getting worse as he neared his destination and he was hunched over, squinting his eyes in attempt to see the road better, but it proved to no avail. Eventually, he pulled into the parking lot and jogged into the store. Quickly peering down each aisle, he finally found the pickles and snatched a jar, making his way back toward the check-out. After purchasing them, he ran through the parking lot and hopped into the car. As soon as he pulled out into the freeway, he decided it would be best to take a short-cut home, thinking maybe the weather wouldn't be as bad on the side roads.

But he was wide of the mark.

The weather was almost twice as bad there and his careless speeding didn't help the situation any. He had about five more minutes until he'd be home, and since he was so eager to get there, he picked up speed. However, the second he added weight to the gas peddle, he slid around the corner, flipping the car sideways as it smashed into a tree.

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Rukia was still gazing out the window when she heard the telephone ringing. Walking over to pick up the receiver, she heard Yuzu's voice on the other line. After listening to her for a few minutes, she bit down on her bottom lip as tears rolled silently down her cheeks.

"Is…is he okay…?" She whispered in a terrified voice.

Yuzu, who wasn't taking the state of affairs any better than Rukia, replied as calmly as she could.

"We don't know…He flipped the car and he wasn't even wearing his seatbelt..."

Rukia was taking short breaths as she gripped tightly to the telephone.

'_Don't you leave me, Kurosaki. Don't you dare leave me.'_

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-Gasp- Ichigo! All he wanted to do was get her pickles!

Read and Review!


	7. Merciless Lectures

Yay! I actually had to time to get this chapter in! Woo-hoo!

**Disclaimer**: Tite Kubo owns Bleach, not me…

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 7---

He lifted his heavy eye lids and looked around the room. His vision was blurred, but he could see enough to realize he was in his family's clinic. Several tubes and bandages covered his damaged body and suddenly his memory of the accident rushed back into his head. Trying to sit up, he felt a sharp pain in his stomach and slumped back down. Then, all the pain had decided to come at him at once, nearly causing him to pass out. He had broken his left leg, cracked two ribs, a slash across his forehead, and a deep gash along his stomach. It even hurt to breathe.

Yuzu and Karin walked into the room to check on him and Yuzu was ecstatic to find her wounded brother already awake. Even Karin seemed happy…for the moment.

"Ichigo! You're awake!"

He turned his head to Yuzu.

"…Y-yeah…" He said weakly. His eye brows wrinkled together, "Where's R-Rukia?"

"Dad went to go pick her up; she'll be here in a few minutes."

"Good…" Then another thought entered his mind. "Where's the pickles…?" He said with a cough.

"See! I told you it was a good idea to take those, Karin!" Yuzu said running out of the room.

Karin rolled her eyes and landed her gaze on Ichigo. He could feel a lecture coming on…

"You dumbass, why the hell weren't you wearing a seatbelt!? You scared the living shit out of all of us! What if you got killed in that car accident!? Rukia and that child would be all alone! You know what it's like living life without a complete family! What the hell is wrong with you!?

His eyes nearly doubled in size as he listened to his sister scream at him mercilessly.

"I…I guess I wasn't thinking…"

"No shit!"

"…Look, Karin, I'm sorry. I just wanted to get home…" He trailed off.

Before she could say anything else, Yuzu came back in the room holding a jar of pickles. He was surprised to see they were still in tact.

"Here you go, Ichigo." Yuzu said, setting the pickles on the end table next to him.

"Th-thanks, Yuzu…"

Karin turned throw a glare at her brother before walking out of the room. Yuzu quickly followed.

"We'll be back to check on you later. Get some sleep." She said smiling at him.

He stared up at the ceiling, wondering if Rukia would be as mad at him as Karin was. He quickly shook the thought out of his mind, as if that would make it less possible. Taking a deep breath, he clenched his teeth from the throbbing pain in his stomach and ribs. As soon as he closed his eyes, he heard fast paced foot steps coming down the hallway. He slowly opened them to find Rukia running into the room. Her expression scared him ten times more than Karin just had.

"Ichigo!" She said, quickly arriving at his bedside.

Her face was pale and her cheeks were stained with tears. She looked more frightened than he had ever seen her.

"Hey, there." He said with a faint smile.

"Are…are you alright?"

"Heh, I'm fine. Just a few cuts 'n bruises."

She leaned down and touched his cheek.

"Right…"

He could see she was on the verge of crying again, and was going to do everything in his power to prevent it.

"Hey, now. No cryin'. I'll be fine. Besides, I got your pickles right over there." He said, lifting a trembling hand to point at the end table.

She couldn't hold them in, and the tears once again began their short journey down her cheek.

"Ichigo…It's all my fault you're hurt…" She said wiping her eyes.

As soon as those words escaped her mouth, he responded with a frown.

"Don't you go blaming yourself, damn it. I'm the one who was careless."

"No…If I hadn't—"

"Rukia, stop it. What happens, happens. It's not your fault, got it?"

He wasn't going to let her win _this _argument.

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Yeah, I know, I know. This chapter was really short. I really wanted to get an update today, and since I only had about 45 minutes to write this, it came out pretty short.

Please forgive me!

Read and Review!


	8. The Death of a Pickle

Woo, I'm back! My mom fiendishly grounded me from the computer -.- . Well, here's chapter eight!

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Bleach, just this fanfic.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 8---

"I'm turning off the lights, Ichigo." Yuzu said quietly.

"Alright, Yuzu. Night." He whispered back.

Rukia was already asleep, curled up on the small couch in Ichigo's hospital room. He would've much preferred it if she had slept in his old bedroom so she would sleep better, like he suggested. But she had claimed she wouldn't leave him alone all night, wounded like he was, even if Yuzu was going to be working. He silently smirked to himself, knowing that it simply was because she couldn't sleep without him. However he couldn't really say much about that, since it was the same with him. After sleeping by her side for just about two years now, he'd grown quite fond of it.

He was surprised she could actually fall asleep, with his raspy breathing and all. But he had to put into consideration that it was 12:30 a.m. and she _was _pregnant after all, so she did get worn out much easier than usual.

Yawning, he slowly rolled over and winced from the throbbing pain in his ribs and stomach. He tried to ignore it as well as he could, but one other thing continued to eat away at him. All sorts of questions and possibilities began to infiltrate his mind. Why hadn't Byukuya and Renji come yet? They _must_ have sensed the baby by now. Ichigo and Rukia both were still shinigamis, so the baby would probably be the same. Surely the two would want to come disturb the couple's peace. But what was taking them so long? Hopefully they weren't waiting for an opportunity like the current situation so they could swoop in while he was injured. If they came now, he wouldn't be able to do a single thing to protect Rukia, and he very well knew it. Maybe they weren't going to come at all. No. That wasn't even a possibility, Byukuya was probably pissed as hell and just waiting for the right moment to spring on him. Same with Renji. They could come at any time to take her back, even if they had previously said otherwise.

Byukuya wasn't one to go back on his word, but he most likely didn't think Ichigo would have the nerve to get his sister pregnant. He was probably ready to blow up a whole district or two at the Soul Society.

Renji probably wasn't all to happy about it either, since he and Ichigo could never get along in the first place, and also because he had always wanted to win over Rukia.

Trying to shake it all out of his mind, he knew his body needed the sleep, but he was afraid if he did so they would take Rukia away from him. But...she wouldn't be very happy to find a baggy-eyed Ichigo in the morning, either...

"Gah.." He said quietly, rolling onto his back staring up at the ceiling.

Before he knew it, he was drifting off to sleep.

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Scrambling to sit up, he saw it was already morning.

"Shit! I fell asleep! _RUKIA!!_"

Rukia was in the lounge with Karin and Yuzu when she heard the loud racket coming from Ichigo's room.

"_Now_ what's wrong with him?" Karin said irritably.

"Karin...Ichigo is really hurt, you could be more considerate..at least..." Yuzu said quietly.

"He did it to himself--"

She was cut off when her eye caught Rukia quickly leaving the room.

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"_RUKIA!! Where are you!?" _

His arms and legs were flailing around and he ignored the tremendous amount of pain coming from his actions. Rukia quickly appeared in the doorway of his room and walked over to him.

"Ru--"

She pressed her finger against his lips.

"Shhh. I'm right here."

His breathing was short and fast, along with his heart beat. She touched his cheek and her soft hands seemed to somewhat calm him. He drew a long, shakey breath and exhaled slowly.

"Okay...good..You're still here.."

"Of course I'm still here." She said softly. "Are you alright?"

He weakly laughed.

"So the mood swings disappear when I'm hurt, eh?"

(He completely ruined the moment..)

"Ichigo!" She huffed, turning to leave the room, but he grabbed her arm before she could get out of his reach.

"Wait..."

His eyes softened as he stared at her, pleading for her to stay with his expression.

"Why do you always have to do this..." She said quietly, yet smiling.

"Oh, I dunno." He said with a grin and pulled her down so she sat next to him.

"You didn't eat any of those pickles yet, ya know."

"And who says I didn't?" She said, turning her head away as she blushed.

"I do." He said smiling. "Cause I saw Yuzu put them in that mini-refridgerator over there and haven't seen them come out since. I win." He said playfully.

She wasn't about to admit defeat, so she made her way to the small refridgerator and bent down to get the jar of pickles. Twisting open the jar, she plucked one out and took a bite.

"Nu-uh. I win."

Only Ichigo would understand what she said, since her mouth was chalk-full with the pickle she was chewing. He laughed at her puffy cheeks and she replied with a look of confusion.

"Why do you have to be so damn cute?" He said, amused.

She looked at him and shrugged innocently.

He patted the area on the bed where she had just been sitting to indicate he wanted her to return there. She walked back to him and sat down smiling.

He rested a bandaged hand on her leg.

"I'm sorry I made you cry." He said solemnly.

She was a bit taken back by his statement, then decided to go along with it to prevent any future arguments.

"It's okay." She said, resting her hand on his.

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And so, let us remember the death of the pickle that Rukia murdered.

Heh, anyway, read and review!


	9. An Unfriendly Visit

Oopsie, I spelt Byakuya's name wrong in the previous chapter, sorry about that. -sweat drop-

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 9---

_Three long weeks passed before Ichigo was permitted to go home, he was supposed to stay for at least a month and a half but was too stubborn to deal with "Sitting around in a boring hospital room" for that long. So he was stuck at home, lugging his broken leg around on crutches, trying to pass the time while he impatiently waited to fully heal. _

A piece of bread popped out of the toaster and he caught it, taking a slow bite. Leaning against the counter, he gazed out the window to see the sun shining and water dripping past every now and then from the melting snow on the roof top. A few seconds later, his daydreaming was interrupted by a knock on the door. He turned around and gripped onto his crutches, limping down the hallway. Taking in a deep breath as he yawned, he slowly turned the doorknob and when the door opened, instead of exhaling the air in his lungs, he coughed or more like choked it out.

"R-Renji? Byakuya!?"

Of course he expected this to eventually happen, but seeing the two shinigami men so close still gave him a bit of a shock. He stood there with his mouth gaping open and he looked straight at both of them. Renji pushed into the house and immediatley grabbed Ichigo by his shirt collar, nearly lifting his feet completely off the ground.

"Okay, kid. You wanna explain to me exactly what's going on here?" He said angrily, but not yet yelling.

Ichigo's crutches dropped to the floor as his hands flew up to grab his shirt collar to keep Renji from choking him.

"N-not really. And I'm _not _a fucking kid." He said defiantly.

"What did you just say? Alright, look. If you're gonna be difficult, _I'm _gonna have to be difficult. Start explaining. Now."

"I already told you, I don't feel like it."

Byakuya stepped in through the door and walked up beside Renji.

"Where is my sister?" He said in an extremely, cold, harsh tone.

Ichigo didn't really know what to say to that, he couldn't just say she was down the hall, but yet he knew Renji and Byakuya could sense her inside of the house. He had to answer fast.

"She...she isn't here."

"Don't you lie to me, Kurosaki." The shinigami captain said, his eyes narrowing.

Now he definitely didn't know what to say. After a few seconds into thought of how to respond to that, his head snapped around and he heard slow footsteps making their way closer and closer.

"No! Go back and lock the door! Get moving!!" He said desperately.

"W-what? What's going on? Ichi--" Rukia's violet eyes widened as she came around the corner, staring at the all too familiar shinigamis.

Ichigo fought to escape Renji's grasp, and for that he was thrown aside into the wall. The crimson haired man ignored his cry of pain and walked over to Rukia, firmly planting his hands on her trembling shoulders.

"Rukia...what the hell were you thinking?" He said shaking his head.

Ichigo attempted to pushed himself up with his arms.

"Hey!! What the hell is that supposed to mean!!?"

Renji turned his head around to face him.

"Well who honestly would want to have a baby with _you_!"

He struggled to get up on one foot and leaned against the wall so he didn't step on his broken leg.

"That doesn't even make sense, you dumbass!"

"Ah, shut up, Kurosaki!"

Rukia stared blankly at the two men. Now wasn't exactly the right time to be arguing about _that._

Byakuya walked behind Ichigo and gripped tightly onto the back of his shirt, lifting him into the air.

"Brother, please!" Rukia called out.

"Why you waste your time with this worthless human, I don't know. But I do understand that engaging in the inappropriate activity you clearly have with him is highly illegal."

Ichigo planted a confused look on his face and looked from Byakuya to Rukia several times, as he still hung in the air.

"What!?"

She _was_ going to treat her brother with as much respect as she possibly could, but something about what he had just said particularly pissed her off.

"Excuse me, Brother, but that's incorrect. Ichigo is just as much a shinigami as any of us. Kisuke trained him appropriately."

Byakuya dropped Ichigo from his grasp and coldly stared at the orange haired man, using every bit of self control he had to keep himself from kicking him to the ground.

"You are lucky that I'm a noble man, Kurosaki." He said in a low but sharp tone.

Ichigo decided it would be best to keep his smart-mouth remark to himself and turned toward Renji.

"How about you get out of my house now?" He said aggravated.

"I dare you to say that to Captain Kuchiki..." Renji smirked.

He clenched his fists and the amount of tension caused his shoulders to begin shaking.

"Why do you have to be so damn immature, Renji!?"

"Ooh, did I upset poor, wittle, Strawberry?" He said laughing.

Ichigo knew he wasn't in good enough condition to actually _fight _Renji, but he sure was aching to do so. Transforming into a shinigami would probably drain all the strength he had, and he wasn't exactly ready to get beaten to ground in front of Rukia. He'd _never _live that down.

"Damn it, just shut up!"

He was on the verge of changing into a shinigami, and Rukia could see that quite clearly.

"Ichigo...don't waste your energy on this argument, please.."

The tension in his body released as soon as those words left her mouth.

"..Yeah..."

He looked back at both Renji and Byakuya.

"Leave. Both of you. I want you away from my family." His eyes narrowed. "_Now_."

Byakuya placed his hand on the hilt of his Zanpaktou.

"How dare you speak as if you are superior to me. I could kill you in a split second, you fool."

"Yeah? That would be a pretty stupid move if you ask me. Your niece or nephew would want to know what happened to their father. And _someone _would have to tell that child their uncle murdered their daddy."

Byakuya froze.

"And I don't really think your sister would let you anywhere near that child if you were to kill me." He added with a smirk.

Renji crossed his arms in front of his chest, angrily eying Ichigo.

Ichigo wiped off his smile, replacing it with an impatient frown.

"Didn't I tell you to leave? Come to think of it, I don't remember sending out an invitation." He said, making no effort to hide the anger in his voice.

Renji was just about sick of his smart-ass remarks as he clenched his fists. Rukia stepped out in the middle of the three men.

"Renji, Brother, I know both of you are angry with my actions, but Ichigo and I have done nothing wrong. As I've already told you, he _is _a shinigami. So please, leave us be..."

Renji's jaw dropped as he stared down at her.

"R-Rukia! What're you doing!? You're seriously going to go through with this!?"

Her calm voice went cold.

"Yes, Renji."

He sighed deeply before turning away. It hurt him to leave, but it was high time he gave up. He had been running after her for far too long now, and he obviously wasn't getting anywhere. She was pregnant with another man's baby for God's sake.

"...I understand." He said walking away, then paused in the doorway. "Good-bye Rukia."

He didn't wait for her to respond.

Byakuya followed behind, but his departure was silent.

Ichigo hobbled to his crutches and Rukia bent down to pick them up and handed them to him. He smiled at her before taking them. He shifted his weight so the crutches supported the left side of his body.

"I think you should lie down, Ichigo. You're never going to heal if you keep moving around like that.."

He looked into her concerned eyes.

"Alright."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"I said alright. There a problem?"

"No," She shook her head. "I just didn't expect you to listen to me."

He smiled.

"Only if you lay with me."

She couldn't stop the smile creeping onto her lips.

"Okay."

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Hmm...but are they going _stay _away?

Please read and review!


	10. Keigo Asano?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 10---

Ichigo laid on his back, his hand behind his head as he gazed at the ceiling. His eyebrows furrowed together in frustration.

"Damn it, I should've gone after Renji. I could've kicked his ass around..."

Rukia quirked an eyebrow.

"Ichigo, no you couldn't..."

He shot up instantly.

"What!? Who's side are you on, Rukia!?"

She let out a sigh.

"I'm on _your _side, you know that. But your leg is still broken, your ribs still aren't healed, and that gash is definitely still there."

He flopped back down onto the bed and placed a hand on his bandaged stomach.

"Yeah...I guess I can go after him when I'm not so damn broken." He said, his frown quickly changing to an ear-to-ear smile.

"Ichigo..."

He stretched his arm out, reaching it around Rukia and pulled her closer to him.

"Relax, I'm just kiddin'. But if that bastard _does _come back, I'll have his ass."

"I don't really think Renji is a threat, and I doubt he'll come back any time soon."

"Oh, I _know _he isn't a threat, he just pisses me off."

She looked up at him, knowing he was referring to when Renji made the remark of who would want to have his child.

"Don't listen to anything he says...I wouldn't want anyone else to be the father of this baby." She said, her expression mellow as she set her hand on her stomach.

He smiled down at her and loosened his hold on her shoulders, to put his hand on her tummy.

"3 more months."

Her violet eyes stared into his as she nodded.

"Mmhmm."

"I can't wait." He said, like a child anxiously awaiting Christmas morning.

"Me either. I'm _exhausted._" She murmured, blowing a strand of hair out of her eyes.

He laughed quietly, to what he thought was himself, until he felt a jab at his bare chest.

"Ow! Rukia what was that for!?"

She rolled over, turning her back to him.

"Oh, be quiet. I barely touched you." She said harshly.

A tad confused, he leaned down, touching his lips to her neck. He could feel her body relaxing as he lightly rested his chin there.

"How's it goin' waaay over here?"

She tensed up again and tried to shake him off as he slipped his hands around her waist.

"Aha, the Kuchiki mood swings are in effect."

"Ichigo Kurosaki, I do _not _have mood swings!!" She yelled whirling around.

"Hey, settle down. You don't want the baby to hear you hollerin' like that, it'll get scared." He said smiling.

"Why do you have to be such a smartass!?"

He lifted his head, looking at her confused. Usually he had her calmed down by now.

"Rukia...what did I say?"

She laid her head back down and her face sunk into the pillow.

"Ahw, c'mon. It's my baby too, ya know. Not like it's some other guy's..."

Rukia sat up.

"Maybe, maybe not."

"What!?!? Rukia, what the hell!!"

"I probably should've told you this at the very beginning...--" She trailed off.

His eyes widened.

"...Told me what?"

"Well...quite awhile ago I met up with Keigo Asano..and one thing led to another...and..."

Ichigo shot out of bed, grabbing his crutches and limped toward the door.

"_KEIGO ASANO!?_ _I'm gonna wring his neck!! That ass wipe is **dead**!!" _

Rukia turned her back to him and he could see her shoulders rising and falling, but he couldn't tell whether she was laughing or crying. Crying, he thought, would probably be the appropriate gesture for the current situation. He slowly toddled over to her, resting a hand on her shoulder.

She lifted her head and he saw a particularly large smile on her face.

"Okay, _what the hell is going on!_" He said, now completely confused.

Bursting out in laughter , she covered her mouth with her left hand.

"Ichigo, how could you even believe that! I would never do _that _with Keigo Asano!"

His mouth dropped, gaping open.

"Well he always had a thing for you, so you never know." He said, turning away and folding his arms across his chest.

"Uh-huh..." She said, rolling her eyes.

"It could happen..."

"You're such a dope, Ichigo." She replied with a smile.

He quickly turned around.

"But at least I'm not a bi-polar dope."

She clenched her teeth and went with her usual instinct of throwing the nearest object at him, which this time happened to be their phone book.

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Mmkay, so would you guys be alright with me skipping the next few months to the baby birth in the next chapter? Cuz I can't think of anything else for the months in between. But...if you _really_ want me to, I'll think of something.

Anyway, read and review!

You know you want to!


	11. Keiko Kurosaki

Well, it seems most of you want me to skip ahead, so here we go.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 11---

"Ichigo!! _Ichigo!!"_

He set down the TV remote, quickly standing up from the couch.

"What, what!?" He said, running into the bedroom.

Rukia was leaning against the wall to keep herself from falling onto the floor as she clutched her stomach.

"I-I think my water just broke." She said, her eyes wide and scared.

"Okay, okay. We just need to stay calm. Deep breaths. Inhale...Exhale..." He said, trying to keep his own self calm.

"_Ichigo!"_

His head snapped up.

"Right!" He said running over to her. "I'm just gonna carry you, 'kay?"

She nodded as she laced her arms around his neck. He darted out of the house as fast as he possibly could and gently set her in the car seat. Slamming his foot down on the gas peddle, Ichigo took off toward his family's clinic.

Upon arriving, he pushed open his door, running around the other side and pulled Rukia into his arms. Busting through the clinic doors, he yelled for his siblings and father.

"YUZU! KARIN! DAD! _SOMEBODY!"_

Yuzu and Karin came running into the room as soon as they heard their brother.

"Ichigo, what's wrong!?" The brunette teen asked.

"Rukia's gonna have the baby!!"

Karin's eyes grew.

"What!? Where's Dad when you need him!! Yuzu, what are we gonna do!?"

Yuzu frantically paced in circles until Ichigo interrupted her.

"Yuzu! C'mon! She's gonna have it _now_!"

Karin grabbed Ichigo's shoulder and pulled him into one of the hospital rooms, directing him to lay Rukia down while she called their father, Yuzu would have to try delivering the baby until he arrived. Ichigo stood by Rukia, holding her trembling hands in his as he looked upon his sister.

"You can do it, it'll be fine. We trust you." He said, smiling at his sister.

She took a deep breath and looked back at him with a nod.

"Rukia, find something in the room as a focal point and try to keep concentrated on that."

Rukia looked ahead at some of the decorative pictures hanging up on the wall and tried to keep focused on them as she held tight onto Ichigo's hand. He gently stroked her hair with his free hand, looking down at her.

"And make sure to take deep breaths the entire time." Yuzu added, staring nervously at the two.

Rukia tightly clenched her teeth from the incoming pain, gripping Ichigo's hand a bit harder than before. Quickly noticing this, Yuzu put on latex gloves and a mask to cover her mouth.

"Okay, Rukia. I hope you're ready..."

She could feel the tension in her muscles as they contracted repeatedly. Taking in deep breaths, minute by painful minute passed by as she went through labor.

Yuzu lifted her head to level with her.

"Alright, it's coming." She said with a smile.

Not a second later, Rukia felt a tremendous amount of pain, ten times worse than her earlier contractions. Ichigo continued to hold her hands, trying to keep her as calm and comfortable as he could.

"You're doing great, keep going." The teenager said happily.

Just a few minutes later, Ichigo turned his head to his sister as he suddenly heard the cry of a baby. He saw Yuzu lift up the child in a white towel, cleaning it off. She swiftly cut the umbilical (no idea if I spelled that right) cord and slowly walked over to Ichigo and Rukia.

Leaning down, she carefully laid the child in Rukia's arms and whispered with a smile, "It's a girl."

Ichigo gazed at his daughter with an exeptionally broad smile.

"She's beautiful..."

Tears of joy silently rolled down her cheeks as she smiled at her.

"She is."

Hearing her mother's voice, the child ceased with her crying and looked up into Rukia's eyes, her violet orbs filled with unknowing curiousity. She was a spitting image of her mother, her eyes the same shade of violet, her hair the same raven black. She lifted her tiny arm and uncurled her fingers, reaching out to touch her mother's cheek. Rukia responded with grazing her lips along the top of her daughter's head.

"What's her name?" Yuzu said quietly.

She looked up at Yuzu and Ichigo.

"I think...I'd like to name her Keiko. Keiko Kurosaki."

Hearing his last name included, Ichigo smiled at her.

"I like it."

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Hence, a new Kurosaki is born! Just to clear up any confusion, Keiko is pronounced (Kay-ko).

Read and review!


	12. Dairy Queen

There's a lot of you who have this story added to your favs/alerts, but aren't reviewing, pleeeease take a couple of minutes to review after you read :)

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Bleach or any of its characters, Tite Kubo does.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 12---

"Night, Rukia." Ichigo whispered, kissing her goodnight. "If you need anything, I'll be right down the hall, okay?"

She nodded, watching him walk out of the room before turning her gaze to Keiko, who was sleeping in a hospital type crib next to her bed. She tiredly smiled at her daughter as she let out a small, quiet, yawn. Keeping a watchful eye on the newborn for the next few minutes, Rukia was beginning to fall asleep. She slowly closed one eye, the other following a few seconds later, but as soon as both were shut, Keiko had decided to start fussing. Her eyelids quickly lifted at the cry of her child and she sat up, leaning down into the crib to hold her. She wriggled around in her mother's arms as her crying continued.

"Shh, shh. It's okay, don't cry, Mommy's here." She whispered, craddling the bundled child in her arms.

Ichigo stepped into the room, his back leaning against the doorway. He smiled at the two before walking into the room and pulled a chair up next to Rukia's bed.

"Ichigo, she's fine. I can handle it, go on ahead to bed."

"Nah, it's alright." He said, that broad smile of his resurfacing. "I missed you guys."

She couldn't help but to laugh, he had been gone for probably a total of around two to three minutes.

"Is that right?"

"Yep." He said, leaning back against the chair and placing his hands behind his head.

Rukia hummed softly to her daughter as she gently rocked her back and forth, causing her to quickly relax enough to drift back to sleep. Ichigo simply watched and looked from Keiko to Rukia.

"She looks exactly like you, Rukia." He finally said.

She looked up from her daughter to Ichigo and cast him a smile.

"But she has your nose."

He laughed out loud to her remark and put his arm around her.

"No, she has your nose. In fact, she has your eyes, your hair, and your smile, too."

Rukia smiled back at him and turned to lay Keiko back down in the crib, carefully covering her small body with the provided blankets. She then scooted over closer to Ichigo, resting her head on his shoulder.

"Hopefully she'll stay asleep for at least a couple of hours--" She said quietly, cut off by a particularly loud idiot.

"Ichigo!! How's my granddaughter!?!" Isshin said, running into the room. He had been at meetings all day, so he missed the birth.

"Damn it, Dad! We just got her back to sleep!" Ichigo said, trying to stay quiet.

Of course, not a second later, Keiko picked up on crying again.

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"Yeah, it seems both Rukia and Keiko's health are in perfect condition. You guys can go home any time now." Yuzu said with a chirpy smile.

"Alright. I guess we'll be headin' home then." Ichigo said, stretching his arms out.

Rukia was standing beside him, holding a sleeping Keiko in her arms. He turned around, protectively laying his arm around her shoulders.

"You ready?"

"Mmhmm."

Ichigo began walking to the exit doors and turned around to wave goodbye to his family.

"See ya later, guys."

The two of them stepped outside into the warm summer air, well close enough to summer anyway, it was May 8th, Keiko had been born on the 7th. Ichigo was already climbing into the car, dipping his head under the roof as he sat in the driver's seat. He hung his head and arm out of the window, holding a stare on Rukia, who was still standing on the sidewalk, gazing at the blue sky.

"Hey, you comin'?"

She slowly lowered her head, leveling with Ichigo's.

"Hmm..? Oh, yeah."

She strolled over, planting herself in the car seat, careful to shut the door quietly as to not wake Keiko.

"Ah...I feel like eating ice cream, wanna stop for some?"

Rukia's face lit up as she turned toward Ichigo.

"I take that as a yes, madam Kuchiki?" He said, firmly gripping the steering wheel as he peered around the endless traffic.

She nodded, giggling under her breath from his random and strange honorifics. Well, honorifics would be a bit too strong of a description for his odd choice of words. Ichigo pulled his vehicle into the nearest Dairy Queen parking lot, yanking his keys out and turning to smile at Rukia. She returned his beaming smile and shifted Keiko around so she could have a free hand to open the door with.

Ichigo followed behind her, standing in line with his hands in his pockets as he stared up at the menu posted on the wall.

"Hi, I'd like to get-- ..._Tatsuki?!"_

Tatsuki Arisawa was resting one of her elbows on the counter, her chin resting on her hand, scowling at her surroundings, even after Ichigo acknowledged her. She was wearing a cone shaped hat that was striped red and white.

"Hey, Ichigo..."

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Tatsuki...working at Dairy Queen? Free ice cream!!

Read and review!


	13. Strawberry Ice Cream

I typed this chapter up on like last Sunday, but it got deleted and I was going to hold a grudge on my computer and not update, but I decided to for those of you who read this story!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 13---

"Ah...You work here?" He finally blurted out, scratching the back of his head.

"Nooo, I'm standing back here for your entertainment. Yes I work here, you idiot." She said, not an exactly welcoming expression on her face.

Rukia walked up beside Ichigo, catching a glimpse of her former high school classmate as she held a curious and surprised stare on her. Tatsuki turned her head to the shorter woman and her eyes grew as she noticed the newborn sleeping in her arms. She didn't know what to say without offending the two of them, but she just said it anyway.

"Y-you guys had a kid!?" She said, slamming her palms down onto the counter top.

Rukia turned her gaze to Ichigo, who had turned his gaze back to the ice cream menu. Realizing this, she smiled politely back at Tatsuki.

"Yeah, we did."

"Well...I guess I saw that one coming...Still kind of a shock though." She replied, smiling uneasily back at her.

Rukia nudged Ichigo's side with her elbow in attempt to get his attention off of the ice cream menu and on her for at least a few seconds. He slowly aimed his eyes toward her as he pulled his hands out of his pockets.

"Hey, will you take Keiko for a little while? I'm going to catch up with Tatsuki for a bit." She said, transferring the child into his arms before even waiting for his answer.

He cradled her as he watched Rukia walk off toward an empty bench, paying close attention to her swaying hips as his forehead began to sweat. Tatsuki removed her hat, laying it on the counter before hanging a sign up saying "Out. Be back soon." Her boss would probably be after her for that later. As she started walking, she turned around to face him.

"Go ahead and help yourself to the ice cream in the back, Ichigo."

Yep, he'd definitely be on her ass about it now.

His eyes lifted from Rukia as he immediately raced into the Dairy Queen building, happily looking around at the surrounding ice cream machines. _'But why do I hafta go in the back? There's already a ton of ice cream in here.' _He thought to himself seconds before opening the doors to the back room freezer. His jaw dropped instantaneously as he stared in awe at the endless amount of ice cream tubs filling the room. He carefully walked by each container for several minutes until he found the strawberry flavor (Go figure). Anxiously popping off the top, Keiko slipped from his arms, falling right into the ice cream.

"Oh, _**shit**!!_" He yelled, scrambling his hands into the pink creamy mess to pull out his now awake (and upset) daughter. Upon lifting her out, he tried to clean her off with the blanket she was wrapped in. It was a rather difficult task since she was completely covered in the sticky mess and she was having a fit about it.

_'Rukia is gonna have a--'_

"Ichigo..."

He turned his head up to find Rukia standing only a few feet away from him, her arms crossed while her right foot tapped harshly on the tile floor, every tap ringing in his ear and sending shivers up his spine. It was safe to say he was absolutely terrified of what would be going on in the next few minutes. She could kill him in here if she wanted, it _was _a large freezer after all.

"Heh...Hey, sweetie." He replied, his voice pitch rising with every word. She slightly tilted her head toward him and he could clearly see the flames building in her eyes.

"Why is my daughter covered in ice cream?" She said, her tone of voice stone cold, but still controlled and somewhat calm.

He smiled nervously at her, "Well...you see...ah, I may have...uh...she sort of slipped from my grasp."

He regretted his words the second they escaped his lips.

"_**You dropped my baby**!!?" _She screamed, her sharp words hitting his ear drums like a bullet. The control was definitely out the window.

"No, no, she only fell about a foot Rukia!" He desperately called out, backing away from his enraged spouse. She stepped forward, taking Keiko from him.

"I'm sorry! I'm just as concerned as you are!" He again tried to explain.

She clenched her left fist tightly at her side, while her right arm supported Keiko and her free hand ascended behind his head, colliding with it as she stuffed his face into the tub of ice cream. His arms flailed wildly into the air when she did so, as he blubbered in the ice cream, held under her tight grip. Keiko, who had stopped crying, giggled at her father's sudden actions.

"Pffftt--Rukia!"

"Ichigo Kurosaki, you are a genuine dumbass!"

She relieved her hand from his head, plainly walking away as she shifted her daughter in her arms, who thought the situation was particularly hilarious. Ichigo plucked his head from the container of ice cream as he gasped for air, breathing nervously. Before walking out the door, Rukia picked up the lid to the container, swiftly throwing it at him and it sailed through the air, hitting him straight between the eyes. He rubbed his forhead as she stiffly walked back outside into the warm summer weather, considering Keiko was only a day old and spending time in a _freezer_. How she could be so happy while covered in ice cream, her mother had not a clue. Stepping past Tatsuki, she waved a hand to her friend.

"I've got to get home and give this one a bath, it was nice seeing you though."

Tatsuki stared wide eyed at the tiny child. "Uh...y-yeah. Bye, Rukia."

Ichigo came running out of the building only seconds later, following behind Rukia. Tatsuki raised an eye brow as he rushed past her. _'What the hell happened to **him**?' _

Rukia buckled herself into the car seat as she gazed down at her daughter with a slight smile curving into her lips. "Your father's an idiot." She said, wiping ice cream from the child's tiny nose.

Ichigo opened the door and tensely plopped in his seat, making a point not to look at Rukia. He gripped the steering wheel nervously before starting the engine and pulling out of the parking lot. There was definite silence between the two of them for several minutes before Ichigo decided to break it as he drew in a deep sigh.

"...Rukia...I'm sorry, that was really irresponsible of me and I want you to be able to trust me with her, it was just a stupid mistake on my part..." He said, making sure not to look at her as he spoke.

She turned her head to him and a fairly small smile dressed itself upon her lips. "I trust you. If I didn't trust you with taking care of a baby, I wouldn't have a baby with you, now would I? I'm not saying what you did wasn't stupid." She paused for a second and looked out the window. "Because it was. But one mistake isn't going to drain every bit of trust I have in you."

He was more than surprised with her reply, shocked really. He expected something more along the lines of a lecture or a "If you do it ever again, I _will _kill you". Maybe to her, drowning him in ice cream was enough of a punishment. There was no use thinking about it now. He turned to smile at her as he added weight to the brake peddle, halting the car to a stop in the driveway. Rukia quickly walked inside the house, slipping off her shoes as she carried Keiko into the bathroom. Ichigo would need to take a shower too, his hair was covered in the pink mess. She turned on the water, filling the bath only about a quarter full of water and carefully laid the infant in it.

"You are quite a mess, young lady." Rukia said, smiling at her daughter, which caused the child to quickly smile back as she reached her hands up to touch her mother's hair.

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Ichigo lifted his ice cream soiled shirt from his body as he ran a hand through his sticky hair. He turned around as he heard Rukia's footsteps echoing down the hall to Keiko's room. Walking into the closet, he grabbed a bleach white towel and made his way into the bathroom for a well needed shower. A few minutes later, he stepped out of the steamed room with a towel wrapped around his waist and walked down the hallway.

"Hey, Rukia, is the laundry dry yet?" He said, stopping in his tracks in the doorway of the kitchen as he found Rukia collapsed on the tile floor. He quickly rushed to her side and knelt down, lifting her into his arms as he shook her gently. Keiko must have sensed the sudden problem with her mother, because the second Ichigo spotted Rukia, she started crying. It wasn't the normal cry babies usually took part in however, it was more of a scared or upset kind of outburst.

"Rukia? Rukia!" The worry was filling his voice.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

A familiar voice shot through his ears as he lifted his head to see who had just spoken to him.

"What the hell are _you _doing here you bastard!"

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Dun dun dunnnnn.

Please please please review!


	14. Amusement

Yeah sorry this took awhile to update. I'm grounded from the computer until the end of the school year, as you would know if you've already read my profile...Anyway, I snuck on so I could update some stuff.

**Disclaimer: **Kubo Tite owns all of the characters in this story except for Keiko.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 14---

Ichigo gently set her back down onto the floor and stood up, pointing an angry index finger at the intruder.

"RENJI! GET OUT!"

The crimson haired Shinigami crossed his arms and smirked. "Alrighty." He said, turning on his heels. "Guess you don't wanna know what's wrong with Rukia then, eh?" He continued, perching his feet up on the open window sill.

Ichigo felt like strangling the agitating Vice-captain as he clenched his fists at his side, but held it back since he _was _his only chance of knowing how to help Rukia.

"I'd think you were quite an ass if you kicked me out, considering your kid is screaming bloody murder in there for her mother." He added, jumping down from the window.

Ichigo turned around and looked into Keiko's bedroom as his shoulders sagged. He knew he wouldn't be able to help her one bit while he was as far from calm as a person could be. First he had to help Rukia.

"Just shut up. Now what the hell is wrong with her? Tell me, _now_."

"Temper, temper." Renji replied, waving his finger at Ichigo.

"_Renji_!! Just get on with it, damn it!"

"Yeah, okay fine. You're such a dumbass. You should know all about this sort of stuff by now since your supposively a 'Shinigami'. I shouldn't have to tell you what's going on in the first place." He sighed. "Anyway... Rukia collapsed because when a Shinigami has a baby with another Shinigami, the baby's spiritual power is extremely powerful, and they of course can't control it. Since a regular pregnancy exhausts any normal human, Rukia didn't have the strength to even attempt to control the baby's power herself considering carrying around that kid was far from a normal pregnancy. She should still be at the hospital so she could rest it off, at least for four more days. But since you're such an idiot, you let her come home only a day after having the baby, which over shot her amount of strength, therefore causing her to collapse."

"What...but...didn't she know that?"

"Of course she did, all Shinigami know that. Well, aside from you, anyway."

"Then why did she let me take her home!? Why didn't she say she needed to rest it off!?"

"Probably because she didn't want to worry you, and because she's stubborn."

"Damn it...She could have just told me!.."

"Hey, don't be yelling at _me_ about it."

"...So is she gonna be okay?"

"She'll most likely awaken soon, but she'll be pretty exhausted."

Ichigo took a deep breath as he took a step toward his daughter's room. Renji gripped his shoulder, halting him from going any further.

"Don't touch me!" He yelled out, smacking Renji's hand off of him.

The Shinigami scowled at the younger man, again crossing his arms. "I expect at least a thank you."

"...Whatever...thanks...I guess..."

"What the hell kind of thanks is that!?" He paused, realizing he was only wasting his breath. "Ah, nevermind...Well you better take care of Rukia. You're lucky I volunteered to come out here and handle this, not Byakuya."

"Yeah, whatever. I've always taken care of her. Just get out." He said before walking away into Keiko's room.

Renji could feel himself fuming and he was just about to slug the overly arrogant Kurosaki, but he hesitantly controlled his anger, as he knew Rukia wouldn't be happy to wake up to the two of them duking it out. He sighed again before simply exiting out of the window, turning to glare at Ichigo's shadow as he departed.

"Okay, okay, settle down. Everything is fine." Ichigo said softly as he picked up his screaming daughter. She didn't immediately calm down, but after he coaxed her for a few minutes, she discontinued her cries and began with softer whimpering. He carried her into his own bedroom, laying her on the middle of his bed while he quickly changed into sweat pants and a tee-shirt.

"Just how is it that you know somethin's wrong with your mother, huh?" He said, gently rocking her while he walked back into the kitchen, sitting down next to Rukia. Keiko's violet eyes flashed open and she stopped making any noise altogether and reached her tiny fingers out to touch Rukia's cheek. Ichigo shifted Keiko so that he supported her with one arm and used his free arm to pull Rukia up onto his lap.

"Hey, don't worry. She's gonna be fine, she's only sleeping." He said, stroking through Rukia's hair and smiling down at Keiko. He heard unpleasent groaning coming from Rukia and pulled his hand away, putting it back around Keiko.

"...Did I wake you up?"

She looked around the room, squinting her eyes as they adjusted the objects in the room from blurs to actual figures.

"No...What...what happened?"

"You collapsed."

"Ah...I guess I saw that coming..." She said wearily.

"...Yeah...so how about you go lay down for awhile?"

"N-no, I'm alright."

He frowned at her reply and stood up, grabbing her hand to also help her up. "Rukia...your going to push yourself to far _again_."

Her expression went blank and she looked away, hugging her arms as she rubbed her hands up and down on them to warm up. "I'll rest in a little bit...How is Keiko..?"

"Well, she had a huge fit when you passed out. She's fine now, though." Rukia looked at Keiko, who was seemingly in a much better mood and she just had to smile at how happy the infant seemed to be in the warm presence of both of her parents.

"You know, I was really worried when I found you just laying on the floor like that." Ichigo said, cutting through the silence.

"I'm sorry..." She said quietly and looked down.

"Don't be sorry, you don't have anything to be sorry about. Just tell me one thing. Why didn't you let me know about all that?"

"I just thought I'd be okay, I guess...I wanted to come home."

"So Renji was sort of right..."

"Renji was here?"

"Yeah...I kicked him out though. That guy just pisses me off."

Rukia leaned forward on her toes and pressed her finger against his lips. "Hey, no naughty words in front of Keiko."

Ichigo laughed quietly. "Are you sure _you _can stick to that?" For that he got a punch in the arm, but it was more a playful hit than anything else.

"Yes, I can."

"We'll see about that."

She scoffed then nudged him, silently indicating she wanted to hold her daughter. He slowly handed her over and noticed she was beginning to fall asleep. His stare softened as he continued to look at his day old daughter contently.

"I just can't believe she looks so much like you. Wonder if she'll be a midget like you too?"

"Shut up, Ichigo!"

"Hey, hey, don't use that type of language. We don't want her first words to be 'Shut up, Ichigo'."

"And why not?"

"Cause I'm her dad, that's why!"

He didn't realize it right then, but Rukia was already gone. Well, she was down the hall in Keiko's room, laying her down so she could sleep. He followed her in, stepping behind her as he wrapped his arms around her waist and rested his chin on the top of her head. She was leaning over the side of the crib, watching Keiko's breathing and every other little movement she made.

"She's so cute...and small." He whispered with a smile.

"Yeah." She responded as she turned around to face him, while his arms still remained wrapped around her. She laced her arms around his neck and slightly tilted her head back as he leaned down to press his lips on hers.

"I love you, Strawberry." She said with a mischievious grin.

"I love you too, Midget." He said as he pulled away, walking through the doorway and disappearing down the hall. Rukia turned her head to smile at Keiko one more time before also leaving the room. She stepped around the corner to their bedroom and felt her toe collide with the doorway.

"SHIT!" She screamed out rather loudly, holding her big toe.

Ichigo, who was laying on their bed watching TV, turned his head to look at her and became rather amused by what had just escaped her mouth.

"I knew you couldn't do it, Rukia." He said with a laugh.

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I'm beginning to be attacked by writer's block with this story -shrieks-. Well...sort of, anyway. I have ideas for when Keiko is like old enough to walk and talk, considerably around the age of three, but as of now I don't know where I'm going with this...ideas are appreciated!

Remember to review, please!


	15. Don't Say It

Whoo I've finally updated! It took me a lot longer than I thought it would to simply sit down and type this up... I told myself I would update by the end of the Spring Break, and I did! Yay! -ahem- Anyways, make sure you leave reviews!

Oh, and by the way, I skipped three years ahead of where I had left off. I'll explain that with more detail later on. And the stuff in italics are flashbacks.

**D**_i_scl_a_i**m**_e_r: I don't own Bleach, never did, never will...

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r15---

Much to his dismay, Ichigo had found himself unable to fall back asleep after he had woken up at 6:00 that morning. The fact that every time he turned to glance at Rukia she seemed to be extremely upset about something, really kept him from sleeping. Most likely a dream, he thought, but she looked as if she had just suffered a severe blow to her emotions. He hated to wake her, yet he hated to see her in what seemed like pain. Since it was already past eight 'o clock, Keiko would most likely be there to wake her up soon anyway.

He rolled over onto his back and stared up at the ceiling for a few quick moments before he could hear her starting to whimper.

"...Rukia?"

Her eyes were squeezed shut and her eye brows were pushing together.

"No...Please..."

Ichigo was now sitting up.

"Rukia, wake up."

"Please...don't..."

He couldn't take it anymore, he couldn't just let her stay stuck in her own nightmare if he could simply wake her.

"Hey, Rukia. C'mon, get up."

"No!! Don't do it!!"

Rukia shot up in a lightning quick movement and Ichigo moved away just as fast. She was breathing hard and her eyes were filled with fear, not to mention they were much larger than normal. Ichigo leaned forward to look at her and he didn't like what he saw. He didn't like that she had a look of terror overcoming her facial expression. She didn't move, except for breathing, and Ichigo slowly placed his hand on her upper back. Not a moment later she turned herself toward him and laid her head on his bare chest. He could feel her tears running off of her cheeks and onto his skin as he wrapped his arms around her shaking body. The two stayed that way for the next few minutes, while Rukia's silent tears continued to travel down her cheeks.

"What happened...?" Ichigo whispered.

She took in a deep breath and exhaled out her words.

"They...they took her...away..."

He stared down at her with a hint of shock in his expression.

"Who did?"

She again inhaled a shakey breath.

"I...don't know..." She paused and looked up at him. "...They...they murdered her, Ichigo..."

He could clearly see she was almost sobbing now, and he definitely couldn't hold anything against her for that.

"Hey now, it's okay, it was only a dream. You know I would never let anyone hurt our daughter. Of course, you wouldn't either." He said with a smile.

"But, I couldn't do anything...I couldn't move...I let it happen...---"

"Alright, that's enough. No reason for you to beat yourself up for something that didn't happen. Besides, it was people you didn't even know, so it had to be completely meaningless."

"But--"

"I don't want to hear another word about it." He said, yawning and stretching his arms out.

She sighed and looked out the window to see it was going to be yet another sunny day of June in the Soul Society.

The small family had moved into the Seireitei just after Keiko had turned the age of one, because Rukia was becoming quite uncomfortable with living in her gigai. In the beginning, when Ichigo had suggested that they simply move to the Soul Society, Rukia was a bit skeptical with that idea, since they would be much closer to Byakuya, which could lead to future problems. Also, living there would be a much more dangerous environment than the living world. She had stated that she wanted Keiko to have as little to do with being a Shinigami as possible, but the child already _was_ one of course. Then there was the problem of would the Soul Society even let the three of them into the Seireitei? After much contemplating on the issue, Rukia had arranged a talk between herself, Ichigo, Renji, and her brother, who managed to get them a snug living quarters in a unpopulated part of the Seireitei.

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_"We could just move to the Soul Society, ya know. You, Keiko, and myself are all Shinigami anyway. And I could visit the family here every now and then."_

_"I don't know about this, Ichigo...Living that close to Byakuya might not be a good idea. For your sake I mean..."_

_"Gah, I can handle him. He's gotta get that stick out of his ass **one **of these days."_

_"Ichigo!" Rukia scolded, though she couldn't help but laugh._

_"Byakuya will just have to get over it. He'll be fine with it if he knows it's for your well being."_

_"I suppose your right, but still. I mean, most of the people there would disapprove of the two of us returning..."_

_"Well they'll have to just deal with that, now won't they? C'mon, Rukia. Do you honestly care what those block headed Soul Reapers think about you?" He was referring to all Shinigami besides the Captains and Vice Captains since over the years he had been in good terms with those particular Soul Reapers, excluding the 6th division captain and lieutenant._

_"Well...I don't know...I've disgraced the Kuchiki name so many times already..." She said quietly, lowering her head._

_He frowned, bending down to her level. "I think you've graced it more than tight-ass Byakuya could in a millenium."_

_She again let out a small giggle before continuing. "But wouldn't it be more dangerous for Keiko if we moved there? There's so much violence going on there continuously."_

_"There's just as much chance as hollows showing up here as there. Sure, there's Death God's all over, but she's one too. So what does it matter? Plus in the Soul Society there would be tons of people with the skill to protect her from anything if for some reason we weren't there."_

_"Well..."_

_"It's better for you if we just move there. I don't want you to be miserable."_

_She sighed and looked at him with a smile. "I guess so."_

_He responded with a large grin._

_"I'll need to talk with Nii-sama first. You should come with me. You two are going to need to get used to each other if we're moving to Seireitei."_

_"Yeah, yeah."_

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Rukia turned her gaze to her only slightly opened bedroom door after hearing fast paced foot steps running down the hallway. She could see a pair of large violet eyes, much like her own, peeking through the crack in the door.

"It's alright, Keiko, we're awake, come on in." Ichigo said, standing from the bed.

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_"You want to move into Seireitei?" Byakuya's deep voice bellowed emotionlessly._

_Rukia nodded. "Yes, Nii-sama."_

_Renji looked at Rukia then at Ichigo and crossed his arms after huffing at the younger man._

_Byakuya slowly turned his head in Ichigo's direction. "And you're taking this with you, I assume?"_

_Ichigo clenched his fists at his side and stood from his seat. "I'm not an inanimate object! Quit calling me 'this', damn it! I'll beat your face in with my fist!"_

_Renji stood to his feet and pushed his forehead against Ichigo's. "Don't be talking to the Captain like you're some sort of god, Kurosaki!"_

_"And just what are you going to do about, Raggity Ann!?"_

_"Raggity Ann!? What the hell!?"_

_"Well take a look at your hair!_

_"**My **hair!? Lookit yours!!"_

_"At least mine has manliness! Yours just screams 'I'm a woman'!"_

_"That's it! I'll kill you for that!"_

_"With what!? Your freaky tattooed-on eyebrows of doom!?"_

_Byakuya glared in Ichigo and Renji's direction as Rukia rubbed her temples. _

_"Will the two of you just be quiet!?" Rukia finally screamed, which quickly hushed the two men._

_The both of them proceeded with sitting back down, folding their arms across their chests, and turning their heads away from the other's direction._

_Byakuya turned back to Rukia. "I see. Well I'll need to discuss this matter with Yamamoto before I can say anything else, Rukia."_

_She again nodded. "Thank you, Nii-sama."_

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It was only a few months later that Ichigo filled the vacant spot of the 5th division captain, much to Renji's displeasure, since the recent Taichou had gone what seemed like insane and tried to take over the place. But that's an entirely different story...

Naturally, Rukia then became his fukutaichou (vice-captain).

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Keiko stepped into her parents' bedroom, wiping her eyes with one hand while the other tightly held onto her Chappy Rabbit blanket she had received from Rukia when she was 2 months old. The pony tail Rukia had tied into her hair was beyond dead, the toddler's raven black hair was suffering bed head.

"Mommy..." She murmured.

"Hmm?" Rukia replied, eying her daughter with concern.

"I had a bad dream. There were lots of bad men..." She answered with a quivering lip and bubbly tears formed in her violet shaded eyes.

Her mother swung her legs over the side of the bed and knelt down in front of Keiko.

"No bad men are going to be hurting a daughter of _mine_." She said as she picked up the tiny toddler.

Keiko almost _immediately _clung to Rukia and rested her head on her mother's shoulder. "Mommy it was scary..."

"Shh, it's alright. It was just a dream. Your father and I wouldn't let anything happen to you. Right, Ichigo?"

Ichigo scowled as he crossed his arms since Rukia had taken his words from only a few minutes ago. Not paying attention to the last couple of things she had said, he remained with his back to the two of them.

"_Right, Ichigo?_" Her tone of voice had definitely gained tensity to it.

His head snapped up and he quickly turned around, rubbing the back of his head. "R-right! You don't have anything to be afraid of, Keiko. You got the blood of a Kurosaki." He said with a cheesy smile, pointing to himself with his thumb while Rukia shook her head with a sigh. He walked behind her and scooped his daughter up in his arms before seating her on his shoulders, which always made her feel better.

Her short legs were slung over Ichigo's shoulders and resting against his chest while he had a gentle but firm grip on her ankles. He reached a couple of his free fingers under her feet to tickle her bare toes, which resulted in numerous giggles from Keiko. Rukia stood up and folded her arms across her chest while she smiled at her laughing daughter and quite amused husband. (I'll detail the marriage thing another time).

And just then Ichigo heard the alarm ringing.

"All Captains report to Conference Room 3 immediately. I repeat, All Captains report to Conference Room 3 immediately."

"Gah... Well that sure ruined _my _morning." He complained.

"Ha I get to laze around today." Rukia bragged with a stretch, but was interrupted by another ring of the alarm.

"All Vice-Captains report to Conference room 2 immediately. I repeat, all Vice-captains report to Conference Room 2 immediately."

"Damn it..." Rukia said as her head lowered and her shoulders sagged.

"Now what was that rule you made up a few years back?" He said, setting Keiko down and placed a hand on his chin. "Ahh I remember now, no naughty words in front of our daughter'. Uh-huh, I see how well _that's_ workin' out... Just about as good as your dr--"

"Don't you dare say it, Ichigo."

"--awings." He said, finishing his sentence.

Before he could even look to see her expression, he felt a hard fist to the top of his head. How she managed to hit him there considering her height was beyond his understanding, but he wasn't about to say that out loud and suffer a lamp being broken over his head or something worse.

Rukia stiffly left the room.

Keiko looked up at her father, who was wincing uncontrollably, and stood up.

"Daddy?"

"Y-yes, sweetie?" He said grabbing his throbbing head.

"You sure make Mommy mad a lot..." She said before toddling out of the room after her mother.

She was gone before Ichigo could correct her, but, well, she was right so he couldn't really correct her anyway.

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Well I gotta thank Bleachy-nii for this update. She came up with the Soul Society idea, which triggered some ideas for future chapters, and well it made me write this chapter up. FINALLY. Anyway, you should all thank her too. :D.


	16. Keiko's Babysitter

**Disclaimer: **Yeah I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_**p**t_**e**_r 16---

Rukia took the hair tie from the corner of her mouth and tied it into the left braid of her daughter's deep raven hair to match the right braid that fell just a bit passed her shoulders. She stood up, turning Keiko around and smiled at her.

"Do I look pretty?" She said eagerly.

"Yes, you look very pretty." Rukia responded, picking Keiko up and fixing her slightly wrinkled shirt from her previous play time with Ichigo, while he had supposed to have been getting changed for the Shinigami Captain's Conference. Sure, the announcement had said "report immediately", but with Ichigo, that part usually went through one ear and right out the other.

"Ichigo, this sounds really important, since the meetings are for Captains _and _Vice-Captains, hurry up!"

"Yeah, yeah." He waved a hand at her before yawning and marching off into the bathroom to clean up.

Rukia turned around and began walking out of the bedroom, when she felt an intense wave of unknown reiatsu behind her. She paused, holding tightly and protectively on to her daughter, looking to see if she could feel it too. To no surprise for Rukia, Keiko's eyes were the size of saucers.

"M-Mommy..." She said, her voice quivering with fear as she lifted her finger to point at the window behind Rukia.

Rukia quickly whirled around, and as soon as she did so, she felt the strong impact of spirit energy disappear.

"What...?" She said under her breath, with confusion filling her voice.

Keiko gripped tightly onto Rukia's Shinigami robes as she continued to hold a fear filled stare out the window. Rukia could somehow recognize the reiatsu, but she couldn't seem to put a finger on who it belonged to, which didn't help the situation any. She could feel her body tensing up as she heard footsteps coming behind her and she quickly shifted Keiko around so she supported her with one arm as the other stayed in a fist at her side. A pair of arms wrapped around her mid-section and she right away reacted with her elbow jabbing into Ichigo's stomach, causing him to stumble back and a few curse words to escape his lips.

With two hands on his stomach and his twitching body slightly crouched over, he glared over at Rukia. "What the heck was that for!? That's _twice _now and I haven't even been out of bed for half an hour! What's the deal with you!?"

She turned around with an apologetic look on her face. "I'm sorry, Ichigo!! I just wasn't thinking, there was this thing outside and--"

"It was the scary men!!" Keiko cut in.

Rukia looked down at her daughter while Ichigo quirked an eye brow. In his opinion, the way Rukia had just been rambling on, she sounded like a confused two year old. She hadn't really given much thought to it, but it was almost sounding like Keiko had dreamt the same thing she had the previous night. Just as she was spacing out again, Ichigo cut through the silence

"Just what is going on with you two?"

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, it's fine." She said, trying to regain her composure and slightly smiled.

"O...k..." He said, scratching and shaking his head as he walked out of the room. He wasn't even going to _try _to figure out why they were acting so strange.

Rukia sighed and turned her head around to look out of the window once more before she followed slowly behind him. Ichigo opened the door, motioning for Rukia to step out before him.

"I got a hold of someone to watch Keiko, by the way. So now you won't have to take her with in case it's a mission."

"Oh, is it Yoruichi?"

"Ehhh...well..not quite..."

"Well, who is it?"

Ichigo paused to clear his throat.

"Ichigo...who is it?" She repeated.

"Well...I spoke with Hat 'n Clogs...and he nor Yoruichi could make it over here...so they contacted the nearest person that I was familiar with...and that just happened to be--"

"Ichigo! Quit wasting time with all of that, who is it? I mean, it's not like it's Kon or something."

Ichigo loosened the collar of his robes nervously, averting his gaze from anything but his wife.

Rukia's eyes immediately grew wider.

"Ichigo...? Please do _not _tell me it's that God forsaken, piece of--"

"Hey, hey, now Rukia, keep it G-rated around Keiko. You know that by now." He said, playfully waving his finger at her in attempt to ease the tension. It didn't work.

"Ichigo, he is _not _watching my daughter!! He can't even reach her height! Not only that, he's an _idiot_!"

"Look, I don't really like it either, but there's nobody else!"

"No way! I'd feel safer if I left her with a dried up marshmallow!"

"Hey! I'm actually quite good with kids! They respond to me rather nicely!"

"Kon!!" Keiko said as she kicked her feet with excitement.

Ichigo and Rukia both turned their heads to the doorway to see nothing there. She lowered her gaze and there was who else but Kon, tapping his foot and crossing his arms.

"You're a _stuffed animal_!" She growled as she glared at the lion plushy.

"Only because Ichigo put me in here! Honestly, Rukia, you don't give me enough credit. Besides, you just _know _Keiko loves me."

She knelt down to his level, gripping the back of his head and mumbled, "And just why the hell should I give _you _any credit?"

Keiko began giggling at Kon's flailing arms as Rukia was about to beat him into the ground, but she was stopped abruptly by the tapping foot of Renji.

"Just what are you guys doing!? You're 20 minutes late for the meetings! Captain Byakuya had to send me out to get the two of you, so hurry the hell up!"

"Well Ichigo here thought it would be a good idea to leave our daughter with _that_." Rukia said angrily pointing at Kon.

"I never said it would be a good idea! I said it was our only choice!" Ichigo said in attempt to defend himself.

"Stop _arguing, _damnit! I'm sure the kid is going to be fine! Kon's been around for quite awhile, he can handle it. Just hurry up, I don't feel like getting lectured for taking too long because of you two!"

"Mommy, do I get to stay with Kon?" Keiko said, her violet eyes glimmering.

Ichigo knew just as soon as those words were said, Rukia would be leaving Keiko with Kon, since she couldn't say no to Keiko to save her life.

Rukia sighed then looked at her daughter, quietly asking, "Well, do you _want _to stay with him, sweetie?"

Keiko quickly nodded several times before Rukia gave in.

"Alright, alright..." She said, setting Keiko down and kneeling to Kon's level and whispered a last bit of information to him. "If I find one scratch on her when we get back, I'll rip out every last ball of stuffing you have and then burn it."

Kon gulped rather loudly and retorted, "O-of course, Nee-san...Sh-she'll be perfectly safe with me..."

"She better be, for your sake." She said, covering up her statement with an innocent smile as Ichigo escorted her out of the door, Renji following behind them with a scowl.

Keiko waved good-bye to her parents and turned to Kon, giving him a strangling hug.

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"So Renji, what are these meetings for, anyway? It sounds pretty important, considering we _had _to attend." Ichigo murmured, his hands behind his head.

"You'll see."

"C'mon, just tell me."

"No."

"And why not!?"

Rukia sighed, shaking her head. "Ichigo, settle down...just wait until we get there..."

"Fine.."

"Whatever." Renji said, walking ahead of Ichigo and Rukia.

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You all thought I was dead or something, didn't you? But good news, I'm still alive! So yeah, sorry about taking _this _long to update...and for the pointless chapter. The next one will be better!

And please review! If I don't get them, I don't update:D

Toodles.


	17. My Little Peanut

Here's chapter 17, people! Since I'm done with school for the summer, I should be updating more often, but I make no promises.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Bleach.

---**C**h_a_**p**t_e_r 17---

"Ichigo, I'm going back."

"What!? We're almost there! Byakuya's gonna have my head for this!"

"I just _can't_ leave her with Kon."

He sighed, rubbing his temples. "Rukia...relaaax. Okay? She's going to be _fine_." He said, emphasizing the last word.

"No she's _not!_ You left her with a perverted, idiotic, clueless, stupid, fuzzball!!"

"Yeah, you know 'cause a dried up marshmallow wouldn't be clueless or anything..." He said under his breath.

"What was that?"

"N-nothing. Look--"

"_Hey!! Get yer' asses moving!_"

The two quarreling Kurosaki's looked ahead in unison to see a red faced Renji.

"_That means now!_"

"Alright, alright, we're comin'. Chill out, crab ass." Ichigo grumbled as he began walking down the dirt road with his hands behind his head.

"I'm not a crab ass! You guys are already 45 fuckin' minutes late! Which means _I'm_ 45 fuckin' minutes late!"

"Yeah, yeah, Mr. Goody Two Shoes has to be on time. We get it."

"I don't have the time to be arguing with you, Kurosaki!!"

"Because Mr. Perfect is late, we know."

"Shut the hell up!"

"Both of you be _quiet_!" Rukia hollered from behind them.

The two men turned around to face the rather pissed off woman behind them. She huffed before stomping off in the other direction from where they were supposed to be heading.

"Hey! Rukia, where the hell you goin'!?" Ichigo called after her.

"To get my daughter!"

"Oh no you're not!" He said running up behind her.

"Yes I am."

"Nope, I don't think so." He said with a smirk as he lifted her up and slung her over his shoulders, causing her to flail her arms and legs in a pit of rage.

"Ichigo, you put me down this instant!" She screeched as her fists pounded into his back and her feet kicked at the air.

"No thanks." He said calmly. "Renji, take her. I'm gonna go get my kid since she insists on going back to get her. Tell Yamamoto I'll be there later." He said, handing Rukia over to Renji.

"Are you fucking kidding me!? You aren't going anywhere, dumbass!" Renji yelled, completely baffled at the fact that he couldn't even round up two people for a meeting. It was absolute chaos trying to do such a simple task.

"Ichigo, you're dead to me!!" Rukia screamed after him as she raised her fist.

He turned his head as he walked away, waving at the two of them with a smile as he journeyed back home.

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"Kon, look at this! It would fit you perfectly!" Keiko squealed as she held up a frilly pink dress with a good amount of ruffles on it.

Kon looked up from his magazine at the dress and instantly became horrified from the pinkness.

"I-I bet it would, b-b-but I don't really think that it's my style."

"Is your style being naked?" She said, hinting at the fact that Kon never wore clothes.

"No, no, no, no!"

"Then...you don't like my dress?" She said as her arms drooped to the side and her dress fell on the floor while tears formed in her eyes.

_'Oh shit...please don't cry, please don't cry, please don't cry...'_

"You hate it, don't you Uncle Kon...?"

He simply sat there on the couch, fidgeting.

And just then, she bursted out into tears.

----------------------------------------------------------------

"Almost there.." Ichigo mumbled as he saw his house come into view. "May as well use shunpo, I guess."

Using flash step, he arrived at his door step within a few seconds. He leaned his ear against the door just as he heard a noise from inside, and as soon as he figured out it was Keiko he pushed the door open.

"Keiko?" He looked around the living room to find his daughter sitting in a corner, running her fingers along her dress as tears fell upon it.

"Hey, Peanut. What's wrong?" He said calmly as he kneeled down next to her.

"Kon doesn't like my dress." She said as she used her arm to wipe off her tears and sniffled.

"Oh, _really_?" He said, rising to his feet and heading into the other room to find Kon sitting on the couch, reading a magazine.

"Hey, Kon."

"Oh, hey, Ichigo."

"I'm gonna kick your ass." He said crossly as he cracked his knuckles.

"W-wait, Ichigo! But I'm babysitting your kid!!"

"Oh, yeah? And that's why your looking at that disgusting magazine while she's over there crying in a corner all by herself? 'Cause your babysitting? I'm gonna rip you apart, you ass wipe."

"Whoa, hang on! I didn't do anything to make her cry!"

"You're such a dumbass. You know, all you had to do was tell her you liked the dress. That's all you needed to do. But no, you can't even do so much as that! If you're still alive when I'm done with you, I'm sure Rukia will beat your ass too, maybe even worse than me. Depends how pissed she gets when I tell her." He said, walking toward the lion plush as he continued to crack his knuckles.

"I-Ichigo, please don't tell Onee-san!! She'll kill me!"

"And you think I won't?"

"Ahh...---"

Ichigo grabbed him by his neck and squeezed as hard as he possibly could before swinging his arm around and throwing him into the wall. He continued by ripping up the rather inappropriate magazine the mod-soul had been staring at, which pissed him off even further since he had been doing so right in front of his three year old daughter.

"Why the hell did you bring this thing with you here!? You know that you were supposed to be babysitting my three year old daughter, don't you, you fucking dumbass!!?"

Kon twitched as he pushed himself up off the floor just in time to be squished by Ichigo's foot.

"Ichigo! Please--mmffppll-- I can't breathe!"

"Yeah? Well that's just too bad." He turned around and cupped a hand around his mouth, "Hey, Keiko, come on in here, sweetie."

The young Kurosaki appeared around the corner with her dress still in her hands and Ichigo motioned for her to come over to him. She took a few slow steps before breaking out into a run to her father. He knelt down again, with Kon still suffocating under his foot, and stroked through her hair before whispering a few words into the toddler's ear. She reacted with a string of giggles as Ichigo picked up his foot off of Kon and lifted him up by the back of his neck.

"Now, you hold still or I'll pin you to the wall with Rukia's kitchen knives, got it?"

Kon nodded slowly as he swallowed a lump in his throat.

Ichigo relieved his grip from the stuffed animal, causing him to abruptly hit the floor.

"Sit up." Ichigo snapped.

And Kon did just that.

Keiko ran around behind Kon and unzipped her pink dress, putting it on him with a huge grin on her face. He was horrified by the fact that he was to be dressed up in little girls' dresses _again_ (refferring to when Yuzu had hold of him). But every time he even showed signs of trying to escape, Ichigo threw him a glare so cold that it lead to Kon sitting up again.

By the time ten minutes had passed, Kon had three different shades of blush on, red liptstick, purple eyeshadow, teal mascara, and two pairs of earrings hooked to his triangular ears.

"Doesn't he look pretty?"

"Yep. Stunning." Ichigo said, his arms crossed as he kept watch on Kon. "You did a great job there, Peanut."

"Daddy, my name's Keiko, remember? Keiko Ku-ro-sa-ki." She said, struggling to pronounce her last name.

"Heh, yeah I know. But you're my little Peanut."

He turned his head around to see Kon trying to tippy toe out of the house.

"Guess I'm gonna have to get those kitchen knives out, eh Kon?"

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!!"

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I guess I should probably get that meeting into the next chapter. Sorry about that.

Please Review!

Later gater.


	18. A Strange Visitor

Mmkay, first off let me apologize for the mistake of writing Onii-san instead of Onee-san, thank you to those who pointed that out. Second off, sorry for the long wait for this update, I'm kind of going through a rough time right now since I recently lost my brother so I haven't been in the mood to write. And also sorry about going and changing my name on you guys again! Just know that whenever I change it, I'll always have ox xo around it.

**Disclaimer: **I. Don't. Own. Bleach.

---**C**h_a_p**t**_e_r 18---

"Renji..." Rukia said both softly and innocently, batting her eyelashes as she clasped her hands together.

"Yeah?" He replied roughly, never averting his gaze from directly in front of him with Rukia placed upon his shoulders as Ichigo had done earlier.

"I order you to put me down." She answered sharply, her cute expression of innocence completely replaced with sudden short temper. "Right now."

"What am I, your servant boy? I don't have to listen to you." He said with a bit of a chuckle.

"Of course not, but either are you Ichigo's servant." She said with a sly grin, since she knew all too well that Renji wouldn't do anything for the sake of her husband.

"And what's that supposed to mean?" He questioned, furrowing his eyebrows together (Or tattoos, whatever).

"Well, Renji, it's supposed to mean that you're helping Ichigo out by taking me to this meeting and letting him go back."

His mouth drooped as his muscles contracted lazily. "Gah! Damn it." He growled, gently setting her down. "I'll use shunpo and go back for Carrot-Head," He said as his shoulders sagged and his left thumb pointed in the direction behind him. "But you've got to promise that you'll get to that meeting."

She smiled to herself because it was simply amusing to her that she could get Renji to do anything she wanted, she juat had to use the right approach. Whether that meant begging on her knees or just saying the right word(s), she always got him to side with her _eventually_. And she also smiled to herself because she thought Carrot-Head was an absolutely adorable nickname for Ichigo, but mostly because she got her way.

"Deal." She replied quickly, smiling a toothy grin.

He sighed, rubbing his forehead before he disappeared with the use of shunpo. Rukia continued to smile and wave until he had disappeared completely out of sight when she turned around and clamped her fists at her side. She looked behind her before taking off down an alleyway that would eventually lead her to home after several weaves and turns.

"Ichigo, I'm going to kill you."

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"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetie?" Ichigo answered, looking up from his newspaper, which he was quickly scanning through.

"Why did Uncle Kon leave? He doesn't like me?" Keiko had a sad pout plastered onto her face while she stared at her father, anxiously waiting for a positive answer.

Ichigo frowned as he set his newspaper aside and knelt down,

"'Course he likes you, you're so cute I don't know how someone could think anything else of you."

"You sure?" She probed, her violet eyes sparkling up at him as she gripped tightly to her Chappy Rabbit blanket.

"I'm _positive_." He answered with a smile. "Now we gotta get out of here before Mommy shows up." He said as he looked around outside of the windows with his hand over his eyebrows to shade his eyes from the sunlight.

"Why?" Keiko questioned him as he lifted her up.

"Because Daddy is in trouble and ticked Mommy off."

"_Again?_"

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Renji huffed for a few seconds at the Kurosaki household doorstep as he tried to catch his breath.

"Damn you, Ichigo." He grumbled as he lightly knocked on the front door. "What the hell am I doing? Rukia isn't there, I can just beat this damn door down." He whispered as he swung his fist at the door only to see it open and his fist to collide with the cheek of Ichigo Kurosaki.

"What the hell are you doing!?" He hollered in surprise and anger at the crimson haired Shinigami standing before him. "I know we don't get along, Renji, but I mean _what the hell_!? What were you doing, standing at my front door just waiting for me to come out so you could sock me a good one!?" He yelled as he rubbed his cheek.

Keiko, who had been holding Ichigo's hand until he was whapped in the face, looked up curiously at Renji until she decided she wasn't in the mood to watch yet another argument between her father and Renji, and so she toddled out into the backyard while her father hadn't been paying attention.

"No! I _wasn't_ doing that at all! I was getting prepared to break down your door to drag you down to that damn meeting which has to be almost over by now!"

"Oh, so beating my door down and destroying my property is better than hitting me in the face!?"

"I'd like to think so!"

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Rukia skidded around at least the fifteenth allway corner that morning before she bent over and rested her hands on her knees as she stopped to breathe.

"I don't remember it taking me this long to get home..." She said lifting her head as she took several deep breaths followed by long exhales. "And I don't rememeber being this tired after only half an hour..."

"Oh, don't you?"

Rukia stood back onto her feet and quickly looked around to try and identify the voice speaking to her.

"Who's there?" She said firmly.

"No one of much importance, Deary. Just here to say hello." The mystery figure said simply as he stepped out from the shadows. "Before you have to go buh-bye." He said with a perky yet eerie smile as he waved his hand.

Rukia stared him straight in the eye and she knew just who he was. She recognized his hair, his eyes, his voice, his everything. She knew all but his name. Her breathing became faster and faster, sharper and sharper. She thought she was going to have a panic attack right there in the middle of a dirt alleyway.

"Oh, what's wrong Ms. Rukia? Can't speak? Are you really _that_ shocked to see me? I gave you a warning last night, but apparantly you didn't listen. Tsk, tsk, tsk." He said waving his white gloved finger in front of her.

"W-what do you want? Why are you here?" She spoke loudly.

"Well didn't I make that clear enough for you in the little dream I sent you? I suppose you would rather call it a nightmare, whatever floats your boat, Missy."

"Why!? Leave her alone!" She was scared out of her mind, but not for herself.

"I guess I'll leave you here to reminisce all of your memories, since that's all I'm leaving you with." He said, turning his back to her as he began walking away.

"_Leave my daugher alone!!_"

He slowly turned his head around and waved his finger again. "Temper, temper. Think a little, Rukia. Who said I was going after her right away? I have several other targets in mind, Mrs. _Kurosaki_." He said before disappearing into the shadows.

Her eyes grew wider as her pupils shrunk and she gripped tightly onto her Zanpakuto.

"Ichigo!" She said desperately before continuing down the alleyway.

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Keiko sat down on the back porch stairs as she stared up at the sky, still gripping her blanket closely to her. She was getting a little uneasy without Rukia, especially after the dream she had experienced the previous night.

"Beautiful, isn't it?"

She turned her head to see a strange man with white gloves covering each of his hands and a cane swinging in his right. Lifting her hand slowly, she wiped at her eye and looked at him carefully and thoughfully.

"I'm not s'posta talk to strangers, Mister." She answered and turned her head away.

"Oh, don't worry about it. I'm only here to see your father. Is he around?" He replied, standing back up to his feet.

"Yeah! He's in the house." She exclaimed as she also stood up, happy that she could be of help to someone. You could say those sort of things made her proud of herself.

"Thank you, young lady."

"Mmhmm." She said with a nod.

She could feel something strange about that man, but she just couldn't figure out what. She knew she had seen him _somewhere_ before.

But where?

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"Can't you just _tell _me what the meetings are for? That way I probably won't have to go."

"No! Go find out for yourself." Renji mumbled furiously.

"Just tell me, you stubborn ass. You know I'm not going to show up there, anyway."

"Damn it, Ichigo! I don't understand how _you_ were appointed Captain! You barely attend any of the meetings, you're _human_, plus you've violated Soul Society's rules several times too many!"

"Guess I'm just better than you." He muttered as he shoved his hands in his pockets and turned his head in the other direction.

Renji really was prepared to blow steam out of his ears considering Ichigo had been testing his nerves the entire morning, and after an arrogant comment like that, who wouldn't become upset? But he was quickly interrupted by a sudden unfamiliar voice.

"Ichigo Kurosaki, correct?" He said with a bow, swinging his cane.

"Huh?" Ichigo said confused as he whirled around. "Maybe, who's askin'?" He said insecurely as he eyed the man suspiciously.

"Name's aren't important, my friend." He said with another eerie smile. "I'd like to speak with you privately, if it isn't too much trouble."

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"This is stupid, who's idea was it to call this meeting?"

"Shut up, Soi Fon." Kenpachi mumbled from the corner of the room, his legs and arms crossed.

"You wanna say that again!?" She hissed, stepping toward her fellow Taichou.

"And what if I do, huh?" He continued arrogantly.

"Calm down, both of you." Ukitake called from the middle of the room. "We needn't be at each other's throats." He said with a cough due to his reoccuring sickness.

"True." Kyouraku cut in. "But that Kurosaki needs to take more responsibility to his rank. He should be here by now."

"Is it not possible that we continue without him?" Gin suggested as he rested against the wall with his arms crossed and his head bowed, but his never-ending smile was there more than ever.

"It wouldn't be the best idea. Although this isn't exactly the most important matter to be dealing with..." Hitsugaya mumbled.

"Exactly! We should just end it now, this is such a dumb idea, who came up with it, anyway?" Soi Fon whined.

Byakuya glared coldly around the room and he knew Renji had yet to return since he couldn't sense his reiatsu, and it was obvious that Ichigo hadn't showed up yet.

"We can't wait for him forever..." Hitsugaya said with a sigh.

"Why don't we just get the Shinigami Women's Association to plan all of this? They're better at parties, anyways..." Kenpachi grumbled.

"Yes, but _we're _the ones directly serving Yamamoto, not the Shinigami Women's Association." Ukitake added.

"I'd be stuck with it either way..." Soi Fon groaned.

"Now, now, everyone. I'm sure Ichigo will be here soon, there's no need to become angry with one another." Unohana stated calmly.

"I say that when he shows up, I get to use my new invention on him." Kurotsuchi smiled mischieviously as he rubbed his hands together.

"No one will be experimenting on squad five's Captain, Kurotsuchi." Tousen said firmly.

"I just don't get why we have to plan _him_ a birthday party. _I've_ never gotten a birthday party. What is he, anyway? Like a million years old?" Soi Fon complained impatiently.

"Not quite..." Ukitake said with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his head.

"Pretty close, though." Kyouraku said with a chuckle.

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So what did you guys think of this chapter? Tell me what you think!

Review, review, review!


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